NSAC grants Jon Jones ‘one-fight license’ to face Anthony Smith at UFC 235 in March

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, appeared before Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) today (Tues., Jan. 29, 2019) in Las Vegas, in an effort to obtain his mixed marital arts (MMA) license after being stymied ahead of UFC 232 just last month.

More on that state-changing mess right here.

As most fans are aware by now, Jones originally tested positive for Turinabol in his UFC 214 drug test back in summer 2017, which led to a shortened disciplinary suspension handed down by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Unfortunately for “Bones,” he continued to test positive upon his return to action — as early as last September — which then led to the UFC 232 debacle. Experts argued that his latest “picograms” are nothing more than trace amounts of Turinabol appearing sporadically in what's being called a “pulsing effect.”

As you might expect, not everyone subscribes to that “terrible” theory.

While Jones was able to get rubber-stamped by California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), leading to his technical knockout win over Alexander Gustafsson in the UFC 232 main event, Nevada regulators wanted to dig a little bit deeper.

Working in his favor was the fact that “Bones” returned a steroid passport (as well as a blood passport) with no abnormalities and the general consensus among witnesses is that no attempt at cheating is taking place.

Working against him is a record of multiple offenses.

It should be noted that USADA’s senior director of results management, Jeff Cook, got creamed by today’s panel for the “flawed reporting system” that led to some of the confusion between commissions ahead of UFC 232.

I swear I’ve heard that somewhere before.

Nevertheless, Jones is now eligible to defend his 205-pound title at the upcoming UFC 235 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for March 2, 2019 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Opponent Anthony Smith, the gamer that he is, remains unfazed by all the drama.

Unlike this guy.

The idea is that Jones will start with a one-fight license and then go from there, giving the commission more time to see how future drug-testing works out, administered by USADA, NSAC, and now VADA. If and when picograms are detected, they will be ignored, assuming they remain consistent with existing levels.

Furthermore, a second (and hopefully shorter) hearing with NSAC will be required before a second bout is approved in Nevada, to evaluate the progress Jones has (or hasn’t) made with his new drug testing regimen.

Sounds like fun.

To watch the full video of Jones’ hearing, assuming you have a couple of hours of free time and a large bucket of popcorn, click here.