Jon Jones, as of Monday afternoon, is subject to drug testing from both the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA).
According to California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster, Jones, 31, enrolled in the VADA program on Monday. As a UFC athlete, he is still enrolled in the promotion’s mandatory USADA program as well, making him the first MMA fighter to be enrolled to both programs at the same time.
Jones (22-1) is scheduled to face Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 on Saturday in Los Angeles. The event was supposed to take place in Las Vegas, but the UFC moved it to California on Sunday, due to a licensing issue with Jones in the state of Nevada.
As a condition of its approval of the fight, California required Jones to enroll in the VADA program. Foster told ESPN he has a high comfort level with VADA president Dr. Margaret Goodman, and given the unique circumstances of Jones’ situation, wanted VADA to be involved.
“Jon Jones is certainly clean right now. That’s not questionable,” Foster told ESPN. “The Nevada commission did not have enough time to get this thing done, but this is not about California taking a fight Nevada would not. And out of respect for Nevada, I’ve kept all the officials working the (title) fight the same as it would have been in Las Vegas.
“This is also not a slight on the USADA program. I have an interest in clearing this narrative out there that Jon Jones is on steroids. We flew him on a plane two days ago to make sure he doesn’t have steroids in his system. There are a lot of people out there saying he is, and that is misinformation.
“If Dr. Goodman tests Jon Jones and reports back he’s completed this program, I don’t know how that narrative can continue.”
Jones, who fights out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has served multiple suspensions for banned substances under the USADA program. In both cases, in 2016 and 2017, USADA ruled it did not believe Jones was intentionally doping, but had either acted recklessly or held some degree of fault.
All costs associated with Jones’ enrollment in the VADA program will be covered by the $205,000 fine the state of California allocated on him for a failed drug test in July 2017. His enrollment in the VADA program will last a minimum of three months, but Foster said he hopes that Jones will remain enrolled beyond that.
VADA’s program is not drastically different than USADA’s, but one difference is VADA does not involve itself in the sanctioning process. VADA reports all test results to athletic commissions for adjudication, whereas USADA enforces its own adjudication process.
MMA fighters Georges St-Pierre, Rory MacDonald and B.J. Penn and have all previously been enrolled in the VADA program. None of them were enrolled in USADA at the same time, however.
Foster recently stated he intends the state of California to hold sole jurisdiction of cases moving forward, rather than have athletes fall subject to multiple sanctioning processes.
“I think it’s important what Andy is trying to do, because in reality, the commissions and those officiating for the commissions — those are the people that really understand the sport,” Dr. Goodman said. “In the U.S., from a legal standpoint, MMA is overseen by state commissions. Those commissions have the right to adjudicate these instances.
“I believe everything needs to fall under one umbrella.”