McCarthy: Jones may be allowing himself to take substances that aren’t known, tested

Right after his hearing with the California State Athletic Commission late last month, Jon Joneswent on to thank commission executive officer Andy Foster for “believing him.” Foster apparently sided with Jones in the argument that the former light heavyweight champion did not intentionally take the Turinabol that caused his in-competition drug test failure at UFC 214 last July.

Veteran referee John McCarthy is also siding with Jones in this particular issue. In a recent interview on MMAjunkie Radio, “Big John” is more inclined to believe that Jones may be a bit careless with the substances that he is taking.

“When you’re an athlete making the amount of money that Jon is making, you can’t go to the AM/PM and buy something that’s in pill form and put that in your mouth without going, ‘What the f–k are you doing?’ C’mon, dude,” McCarthy said. “You are a frickin’ Ferrari. You can’t do those things. You have got to be smart. And I just don’t see them letting him off with, ‘Oh, it was just a mistake,’ because he’s had that mistake before.”

But while McCarthy tends to believe that tainted supplements could be the reason for the drug test failure, he is not letting Jones off the hook that easily.

“I love Jon Jones. I say he’s the greatest MMA fighter I’ve ever seen,” McCarthy said. “But this is where the problem comes forward. I don’t personally believe Jon took some type of steroid before fighting Daniel Cormier. … But Jon is personally responsible as a professional athlete under contract with the UFC … with everything he puts in his body.”

“And I believe that Jon is taking – or allowing things that are not known or not tested – and because some other trace element is in there that makes you pop, you’re responsible for it.”

Once Jones undergoes USADA arbitration, it will be determined whether he will be getting the maximum four-year suspension for his second PED-related infraction in the UFC.