Mixed martial arts star Jon “Bones” Jones has been handed a one-year doping ban after taking a sexual-performance pill tainted with a performance-enhancing substance, it was confirmed on Monday.
Jones, the Ultimate Fighting Championships interim light heavyweight champion, tested positive for the substance shortly before UFC 200 in July.
The ban will be applied retroactively to the date of the test, meaning Jones, 29, will be free to fight again in July 2017.
A three-member panel, which adjudicated on Jones’ case, said they were satisfied the fighter had ingested the substance unwittingly.
“On the evidence before the Panel, the Applicant is not a drug cheat,” the panel from McLaren Global Sports Solutions wrote, according to MMAFighting.com.
“He did not know that the tablet he took contained prohibited substances or that those substances had the capacity to enhance sporting performance. However by his imprudent use of (the pill) he has not only lost a year of his career but an estimated nine million dollars ($9 million).
“This outcome which he admits to be a wake-up call for him should serve as a warning to all others who participate in the same sport.”
Jones is already serving a suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a positive test conducted in June for clomiphene and letrozole, both testosterone-boosting drugs.