UFC 232 is being relocated to from Las Vegas to Los Angeles just days before the big event is set to take place on December 29. The unprecedented, last-minute move is apparently due to a licensing issue in Nevada involving the card's main event fighter, Jon Jones.
As reported by ESPN:
The issue in Nevada arose last week, when the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) reported an atypical finding of a drug test Jones submitted on Dec. 9. That result showed the presence of the same long-term M3 metabolite for which Jones tested positive in July 2017, prior to a title fight against Daniel Cormier in Los Angeles.
The 2017 finding resulted in Jones being stripped of his light heavyweight title, a 15-month suspension from the USADA (which he has served), and a $205,000 fine from the state of California. USADA ultimately concluded that what was found did not suggest intentional doping, although the metabolite is still a banned substance.
Now before you go calling Jones a cheater once again, it should be noted that a follow-up investigation was conducted following December 9 in which USADA ruled the amount found in Jones's system is consisted with "residual amounts" of the initial 2017 test. This would suggest that the banned substance was not re-administered.
Jones took to Twitter to defend himself from any accusations that he may have once again cheated, claiming that the USADA ruling proves he's a "clean athlete."
"Both USADA and worldwide anti-doping experts told us this was not a re-ingestion of a prohibited substance, it was remaining effects from the July 2017 positive test -- for which he was already sanctioned," explained Jeff Novitzky, UFC's vice president of athlete health and performance. "And probably more importantly, he retains no performance-enhancing benefits from the small presence of the substance."
But with Jones' title fight less than a week away, the Nevada State Athletic Commission could not evaluate the circumstances in time to grant Jones a license to fight at UFC 232 next week. So off to Los Angeles we go.
"Nevada does not have the time to see us and go through a hearing to find out what California already knows," UFC president White elaborated.
"There's not enough time for Nevada to do this, so we're moving the event to California where the commission has already dealt with Jon Jones. They were the ones dealing with this and they have all the history with him."
Jones (22-1) is scheduled to fight Alexander Gustafsson (18-4) for the light heavyweight championship as the main event of UFC 232. White is convinced that Jones did not cheat and believes that keeping the fight on the card was "the right thing to do."
"Who's made more mistakes than Jon Jones? The answer is nobody," White said. "Jon Jones has got his life together and he did not test positive. He did not do anything wrong here. Gustafsson has flown in from Sweden, been here weeks training for this fight. Jon Jones has trained for this fight. Neither guy violated any rules or did anything wrong. These guys need to fight, it's for the title. This is the right thing to do."
The highly anticipated rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson will now take place at The Forum in Inglewood, California. All 26 scheduled fighters are expected to remain on the card.