After his second consecutive drug test failure, Jon Jones’ reputation and legacy as a fighter is not looking any good. He is currently facing a potential four-year ban, as well as the rightful stripping of his title if his B Sample renders a positive result.
But according to Angel Heredia Hernandez, the process of Jones’ testing could very well be questionable. “Memo” as he is known in the sports world, is a former athletics coach who was openly involved in supplying performance enhancing drugs to track and field athletes.
Hernandez says Jones’ drug test findings was likely a result of contaminated supplements, which he claims happens a lot in the United States.
“Now, what really gets my attention – and this is my opinion – it’s that the protocol that WADA is utilizing today for the detection of Turinabol, is implementing it that now, they can detect six different particular metabolites,” Hernandez told Submission Radio. “One of those metabolites can last up to seven weeks in the body.”
“If he would have been using way before then, he eventually would have been positive on the 21-day testing before the fight. But he was negative, then he came out positive.”
“Frankly, the testing itself, it lacks of credibility for a lot of reasons,” he explained. “We could go on and on, and I could be very specific in terms of chemistry, but I don’t want to mislead the people that listen. It’s just the fact that they are detecting six different metabolites, and one of them stays longer than up to seven weeks. But the most intriguing part of it is that some of those metabolites, they’re not really confirmed that they are actually coming from that Turinabol structure.”
“At this point, in my opinion, I really want to believe that the only thing that could have caused the positive test for this guy could have been that the supplement was contaminated,” Hernandez added. “And that’s a big issue happening in the United States. There are a lot in the supplement industry that have been gone into different lawsuits because of cross-contamination, supplementation, and mislabeling.”
Hernandez has been tapped by Jones’ legal defense team as an expert witness on the matter. And from how he has known the light heavyweight champion, so far, some things just do not add up.
“The question is, did they really re-test the A Sample five times to confirm the result, or to try and find him positive? Because it does happen, with some analytical procedures, it can be in the middle between negative and positive,” Hernandez said. “And yet, when you keep trying to push the result, you eventually will get it.”
“In my personal opinion, I don’t really think (Jones) would take something 20 to 21 days towards the fight, knowing that he’s going to be randomly tested,” he continued. “So in this situation, I want to believe that perhaps the protocol is not as bright because there are a lot of scientists that agree with me. The testing itself is not really 100% credible.”
Jones did pass the post-fight blood test taken after UFC 214. USADA also confirmed that the Turinabol that was found was taken by WADA via urine test.
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