Chael Sonnen shares interesting take on Jon Jones drug testing situation

Three-time UFC title challenger and current Bellator star Chael Sonnen has some interesting views on Jon Jones’ recent drug testing drama.

Throughout this recent drama, Jones has maintained that he never knowingly ingested banned substances. Sonnen believes that’s only half true. In his eyes, Jon Jones has probably not intentionally ingested recently — but he certainly has previously.

“If anyone ever gets flagged on one of these tests, in the eyes of the media, he was always taking steroids — illegal steroids. In some cases that’s true. In this case, that would be true,” Chael Sonnen said of Jon Jones on his Beyond the Fight podcast (transcript via Bloody Elbow).

“Jon was working the story of ‘I have no idea. I didn’t take anything and I have no idea where this came from,’ and he was sticking to that. He was even ‘hey I’ll take a lie detector test, I’ll cough up some tears for you guys. I’ve never even heard of this stuff before.’ Well, he was telling the truth.

“All of that was true. He was taking a different banned substance that was contaminated with this banned substance. So when this one came out, he’s sitting there with his pants down, ‘oh man I’ve never even heard of that. I feel like I’m being victimized. I never took that.’ — he was telling the truth, intent-wise.

“I could get more into detail. I could tell you specifically what he was doing and how he was doing it, but the point is, it was contaminated with this, and it’s not the first time that has happened. Not even the first time at the gym he’s training at that that has happened.

“I am seeing Jon falsely disparaged for having retaken banned substances. That’s not true. The conclusion and the analysis is accurate that this is residue that is left over,” Chael Sonnen concluded, summarizing his thoughts on Jon Jones. “My conclusion and analysis that he was under-punished …. I’m just a guy looking at the rules that understands that on your second violation, you have a minimum of two years. Had they gone through that, we wouldn’t be in this spot (because there would no longer be turinabol residue in his system).”

What do you think of these comments from Chael Sonnen?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/30/2019.