UFC 232: 5 Reasons why UFC were right to move the event to Los Angeles, California
Jon Jones is indeed controversy's favorite child. The former Lightheavyweight champion has landed in yet another drug testing pickle but this time around, he isn't the only one who will have to suffer.
In case you didn't know what happened, let's get you up to speed. Jones tested positive for a very minute amount of Turnabol from a test conducted on December 9th. Strangely enough, it's the same substance that got him banned for one and a half years.
The Nevada Athletic State Commision may have barred the contentious former champion from returning in Las Vegas but have granted him the permission to withdraw his fighting license. The California State Athletic Commision deemed the drug traces to be too minuscule and allowed Jones to fight in the state. Thus, the entire card has now been shifted to The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Yes, you read that right, the UFC just changed the venue to accommodate Jones in the final card of the year. We feel sorry for the ticket holders of the original Las Vegas card, the logistics team of the UFC, and of course, the other fighters on the card. Absolute shambles!
While it may all seem like an enormous misstep on the UFC's part, there are still many reasons that justify the decision taken by Dana White and co. The incoming criticism too has its own merit but we would rather focus on the positive takeaways from the highly precarious circumstances.
So let's break them down.
#1 Jon Jones stays on the card
Before you jump to conclusions and label him a cheat, which he surely is in the eyes of the fans, Jones is faultless in the prevalent scheme of things.
As stated by the USADA, the traces of Turnabol is a petite residue from his earlier tryst with the anabolic steroid in 2017 for which he was rightfully punished. We're talking in picograms here and in case you're wondering, that's 1 trillionth of a gram. But, is it actually possible to find 'residual amounts' 18 months after the ingestion?
Anyway, getting punished for such a small quantity would have been criminally harsh on Bones, who has underlined the fact that he is a clean athlete in his statement in the wake of the unearthed mess. Jones is inarguably a massive draw for the UFC and losing him days before the closing card of the year would have hurt the company from a business standpoint. UFC doesn't want any sort of bad press, especially after UFC 233 being canceled.
The show must go on, and while UFC could have done without the polarizing star with an impromptu replacement opponent for Gustafsson, that would have just taken the entire sheen off the card.