The news of Jon Jones' latest failed drug test made its way through the fighting world on Tuesday, and fans all over the landscape expressed their disappointment in the UFC light heavyweight champion.
But Jones' teammate, Frank Lester, a coach at Jackson-Wink Academy where Jones trains, is urging everyone to hold off on judgement. In a Facebook post, Lester claims that he was with Jones when he heard the news and that Jones' positive test result is a "straight set up."
I was just at dinner sitting next to Jon Jones when he got the phone call about this failed drug test. Supposedly the...
Posted by Frank Lester on Tuesday, August 22, 2017
"This is a set up, straight up, no athlete would test clean his entire fight camp, and then randomly take some cheap f---ing oral steroid betweens (sic) weigh ins and fight night knowing he would be tested once he got done fighting," Lester wrote. "This is a straight set up. They are trying to ruin this kids (sic) life. It makes no sense and Jon wouldn't do it."
Jones, less than one month removed from a dominant third-round TKO of Daniel Cormier to regain his title, tested positive for a banned substance stemming from an in-competition sample collected immediately following the UFC 214 weigh-in on July 28. Just over a month ago, Jones completed a one-year USADA suspension, which he received after testing positive for banned substances clomiphene and letrozol. That positive test resulted in him being pulled from the UFC 200 main event last July.
UFC president Dana White denied reports that Jones had immediately been stripped of his belt but did say that he would prefer to hand the title back to Cormier than create an interim title.
