Anthony Smith reacts to Jon Jones’ positive drug tests ahead of UFC 235 - ‘It’s expected’

Earlier today (Thurs., Feb. 28, 2019), the results of five of Jon Jones’ pre-fight drug tests were revealed by Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), which showed that while three of them were clean, two of them came back positive.

Picograms FTW!

That said, people who are highly-knowledgeable of the reason(s) this keeps occurring say there was no re-ingesting of any banned substance. Here is how the scientists broke it all down via a statement from Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC):

“Dr. Eichner further provided that there is no scientific or medical evidence that the athlete (Jones) would have an unfair advantage leading up to, or for, his contest scheduled on March 2, 2019. Dr. Daniel Eichner, President and Laboratory Director of SMRTL, reviewed the above investigative reports and determined that they show no evidence that dehydrocholormethyltestosterone (DHCMT) has been re-administered.”

So when Anthony Smith — who will face Jones for his Light Heavyweight title this Saturday (March 2, 2019) at UFC 235 in Las Vegas, Nevada — caught wind of the news, he said he would’ve been more surprised if all of the results came back clean.

“It’s expected, I didn’t have any doubt in my mind. For whatever reason he tends to pulse when he gets close to a fight. I would’ve been more shocked if it wasn’t that. It is what it is. I talked to Bob Bennett, and we’re good,” said Smith during a recent scrum via Aaron Bronsteter.

“I trust in NSAC. I don’t understand the science behind it, it doesn’t make any sense to any of us, right? But, we’re just regular people. So it doesn’t make sense to me. Bob Bennett has been doing this a long time and I just don’t think that he would put me in a position where someone starts with a head start,” he added.

“But that’s not me giving Jon a pass, you know? Obviously, there has been some sort of indiscretion there. At some point in time, he has used PED’s and I don’t think we can argue that. But as far as now, I think Jon is a clean athlete.”

To hear Smith tell it, he’s not focusing on the negative things Jon has going on outside of the cage, but is instead focusing non all of the good (and dangerous) things he can do to an opponent inside the Octagon.

And unlike Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson — who Smith says focused too much on Jones’ failed tests — “Lionheart” won’t let all of this serve as a distraction. We shall see in just a few more days.

For more on UFC 235: “Jones vs Smith” click here.