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MMA

20th Jul 2016

Jon Jones’ response to Brock Lesnar comparison wasn’t exactly timed to perfection

Another twist in the tale

Ben Kiely

Jon Jones won’t be able to avoid the Brock Lesnar comparisons after the banned substance the WWE star was popped for has been reportedly revealed.

Although Chael Sonnen had already revealed them to the world, the banned substances that saw Jones fail his pre-UFC 200 drug test were officially confirmed by Usada this week. Jones tested positive for two oestrogen blockers – clomiphene and traces of letrozole.

After the confirmation was made, Jones, who has consistently maintained he’s innocent of any wrong-doing, began interacting with fans on Twitter.

One of his followers asked the former pound-for-pound king if he was ‘in the same boat’ as Brock Lesnar – who also failed a pre-fight drug test before UFC 200. Jones shot down the comparison between his situation and that of the WWE star.

Since Jones hit send on that tweet, the news broke that Lesnar had also failed an in-competition drug test, hours before making his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon. According to the official statement, it was the same banned substance that he tested positive for on June 28.

The substance was not disclosed, but reputable journalist Lance Pugmire of The LA Times has reported that it was the fertility drug clomiphene, just like Jones.

While we don’t know the circumstances of how the drug got into either of the fighters’ systems, Jones will certainly find it difficult to argue that he is not in the same boat as Lesnar for the foreseeable future. At the very least, they’re in similar boats.

Jones and Lesnar were set to be the biggest draws of what promised to be the UFC’s biggest ever spectacle at UFC 200.

However, the proverbial hit the fan three days before fight night when it emerged that Jones had failed a pre-fight drug test. Bones was pulled from his headline fight against Daniel Cormier, who was given a replacement bout against living legend Anderson Silva further down the card.

Lesnar was subsequently bumped up to the co-main event slot and he defied expectations by beating knockout monster Mark Hunt over three rounds in his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon.

A few days later though, that pesky metaphorical anus squatted down over the spinning blades again to make an awful mess as it announced that Lesnar had also been popped.

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