J. Jones receives license to fight in Las Vegas. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @jonnybones
the nightmare of Jon Jones in Las Vegas seems to have come to an end. After the fighter was banned from fighting in the city at UFC 232, in December, when traces of the anabolic agent turinabol were found in an anti-doping test, the North American once again received the license to work in the 'home of the UFC'.
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The Nevada Athletic Commission, the entity responsible for sanctioning the events in Las Vegas, heard Jones for three hours this Tuesday (29). In his testimony, the fighter guaranteed his innocence.
Matthew Fedoruk, director of the US Anti-Doping Agency, testified on Jon's behalf and stated that the 33 picograms found in the test were remnants of the test in which the athlete had already been punished in 2017. Furthermore, he guaranteed that the amount of the substance found would not bring any technical benefit to the champion.
As a result, the Nevada Athletic Commission granted a fight license to Jon Jones, but conditioned authorization on anti-doping tests that will be carried out until his next appointment.
UFC announces return of Jon Jones
All it took was for the Nevada Athletic Commission to grant a license to Jon Jones, which quickly made the fighter's first title defense official. He will face his compatriot Anthony Smith on 2 in March.
OFFICIAL!
🏆 @JonnyBones defends the LHW title against @LionheartASmith in the MAIN EVENT of #UFC235! pic.twitter.com/y6T6xMYqob
- UFC (@ufc) 29 January 2019
Check out Jon Jones' official statement:
We're having the press conference on Thursday here in Las Vegas, so I'm not going to answer questions today (Tuesday), I just wanted to quickly say thank you to USADA, the Nevada Athletic Commission, my team, the UFC, the fans and to everyone who supported me throughout this process, helping me to be at peace and to go through this entire process. I feel privileged and very grateful to be back and to fight in Nevada. I'm excited for March 2nd, it's going to be a very exciting fight. I can't wait to go through all these tests and to get back to fighting in front of the fans and having great fights. Thank you for being here covering this event and I will see you at UFC 235. God bless you.
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