Referee John McCarthy Believes Jon Jones Didn’t Intentionally Take PEDs

Renowned mixed martial arts referee John McCarthy has joined California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer Andy Foster in publicly stating that he believes Jon Jones did not knowingly take any performance enhancing drugs.

McCarthy, who is now a commentator with Bellator MMA, appeared on MMA Junkie radio recently and gave his thoughts on the situation, including Jones’ successful polygraph test he took in December to help clear his name:

“When he took the lie-detector test, I believe that Jon didn’t knowingly take a pill or take a shot or injection for that steroid, but I do believe he’s taking things or allowing himself to ingest things that, for whatever reason, that sometimes contain these things, because he’s taking them from places that there is no quality assurance.” McCarthy said.

While McCarthy believes Jones didn’t intentionally take a banned substance, he said as a professional athlete, Jones is still responsible for what goes into his body.

“When you’re an athlete making the amount of money that Jon is making, you can’t go to the AM-PM and buy something that’s in pill form and put that in your mouth without going, ‘What the (expletive) are you doing?”

“I say he’s the greatest MMA fighter I’ve ever seen. But this is where the problem comes forward. I don’t personally believe Jon took some type of steroid before fighting Daniel Cormier. … But Jon is personally responsible as a professional athlete under contract with the UFC.”