Dec 23, 2018

  • Brett OkamotoESPN Staff Writer

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    • MMA columnist for ESPN.com
    • Annotator for "MMA Live"
    • Covered MMA for Las Vegas Lord's day

In an unprecedented motion, the UFC is relocating next weekend's UFC 232 pay-per-view event from Las Vegas to Los Angeles considering of a licensing issue involving Jon Jones in the country of Nevada.

UFC president Dana White broke the news on SportsCenter on Lord's day. UFC 232, originally scheduled to have place at T-Mobile Loonshit this coming Saturday, will at present be at The Forum in Inglewood, California. All 26 fighters scheduled to compete at UFC 232 are expected to move with the card.

Jones (22-1) is scheduled to meet Alexander Gustafsson (eighteen-iv) for the calorie-free heavyweight championship in the UFC 232 main consequence. The fighters were simply informed after the news was released. Gustafsson was on a helicopter bout around the Yard Coulee when the news broke, and the promotion initially had trouble reaching him.

The outcome in Nevada arose final calendar week, when the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) reported an atypical finding of a drug exam Jones submitted on Dec. ix.

That effect showed the presence of the same long-term M3 metabolite for which Jones tested positive in July 2017, prior to a title fight against Daniel Cormier in Los Angeles.

That positive test resulted in the UFC stripping Jones of the calorie-free heavyweight championship, a fifteen-month suspension from USADA (which he has since served) and a $205,000 fine from the state of California. USADA ultimately ruled the circumstances of the case did not suggest intentional doping, but that the metabolite is still a banned substance.

In an ensuing investigation of the Dec. 9 exam results, USADA ruled the trace corporeality found in Jones's system is consistent with "residuum amounts" of the initial 2017 test -- meaning the depression amount does non suggest Jones re-administered a parent drug.

Jones wrote on Twitter that he felt the USADA ruling proved he was a "clean athlete."

According to the UFC, USADA has informed the promotion and the Nevada State Able-bodied Commission (NSAC) it does not consider the amount to exist functioning-enhancing and will not classify the Dec. nine test as a failed drug test.

"Both USADA and worldwide anti-doping experts told u.s. this was not a re-ingestion of a prohibited substance, information technology was remaining effects from the July 2017 positive exam -- for which he was already sanctioned," said Jeff Novitzky, UFC's vice president of athlete health and performance. "And probably more chiefly, he retains no performance-enhancing benefits from the small presence of the substance."

Nevertheless, with Jones' title fight just half dozen days abroad, the NSAC was not in a position to evaluate the circumstances in fourth dimension to grant Jones a license to compete at UFC 232.

At that bespeak, the UFC explored moving the card to California, where California Land Able-bodied Committee (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster is familiar with the details of Jones' instance after he adjudicated the July 2017 process. Foster has also stated publicly he does not believe Jones intentionally doped in 2017.

"Nevada does not have the fourth dimension to come across us and go through a hearing to find out what California already knows," White said. "There's not plenty fourth dimension for Nevada to do this, so we're moving the event to California where the commission has already dealt with Jon Jones. They were the ones dealing with this and they have all the history with him."

Earlier this month, Jones was given his licensure to fight in California ahead of UFC 232, even though the event was scheduled to accept place in Las Vegas. That hearing came after California agreed to allow USADA to hand Jones his penalization, which was ultimately 15 months.

Foster told ESPN that Jones flew on a private plane to California on Saturday to submit a drug examination at the CSAC's request. Those results were expedited, and CSAC was informed Jones passed the examination. That was a requirement the commission needed in order to motion forward with blessing the fight.

"At some point somebody has to stand up up and do the correct thing," Foster said Sunday. "I have a lab that says in that location's no show of a new injection. There'due south no short-term metabolite in his organization. Information technology's that aforementioned onetime crap that he's already ingested. I can only get by what the scientists tell me and I have multiple who are telling me there is no new injection. He has very, very low levels in his system."

Foster added that while this turn of events is not "uncommon" when dealing with this kind of metabolite or performance-enhancing drugs, he's never seen it show upwardly before because California doesn't unremarkably test with this level of sophistication.

"Is this fighter hot right now?" Foster said. "No. He's a clean fighter. And he's been punished already for those metabolites before. He's cleared to fight here. He doesn't have any agile steroids in him."

Jones has withdrawn his application for a license in Nevada. He is expected to appear before the committee in 2019 to discuss the matter. The NSAC released a statement on the matter to the UFC, which the promotion provided to ESPN.

"Today, NSAC Executive Managing director Bob Bennett announced that, in consultation with NSAC Commission Chair Anthony Marnell III, unarmed combatant Jon Jones will be allowed to withdraw his pending awarding for licensure, which was intended to clear him to fight in a major contest in Nevada later this calendar month," the argument read.

"After extensive assay of Mr. Jones' prior 18 months of USADA in- and out-of-contest anti-doping drug testing results, Manager Bennett, Chair Marnell and Mr. Jones concur that he volition appear at an evidentiary hearing in Jan. This will allow for a measured, thoughtful and comprehensive discussion of his anti-doping testing protocol and results and provide an opportunity for the NSAC to determine the advisable path forward for him in Nevada. Nosotros look forward to his hearing."

Bennett was not immediately available for comment when contacted by ESPN on Sunday.

Jones, 31, is widely considered the greatest fighter of all time, but he has endured a long list of regulatory and legal problems. He is the merely UFC champion to be stripped of a title for disciplinary reasons.

White best-selling Jones' troubles, but said keeping Sabbatum's fight together was "the right thing to practise."

"Who'south made more mistakes than Jon Jones? The respond is nobody," White said. "Jon Jones has got his life together and he did not test positive. He did not practice anything wrong here. Gustafsson has flown in from Sweden, been here weeks training for this fight. Jon Jones has trained for this fight. Neither guy violated whatever rules or did anything incorrect. These guys need to fight, it's for the title. This is the right thing to exercise."

Tickets at the new venue will go along auction Wednesday. Full refunds will exist offered on all tickets for the Las Vegas event. White said those who bought tickets for the Las Vegas card will exist offered the opportunity to attend the issue in Los Angeles.