Miesha Tate on Jon Jones failed drug tests: ‘You can’t use ignorance as an excuse’
Ignorance isn’t bliss.
That’s according to Miesha Tate, who gave her opinion on the saga surrounding Jon Jones’ failed drug tests after defeating Daniel Cormier to win the Light Heavyweight title at UFC 214 this past July.
According to “Cupcake,” there simply isn’t any other option than to follow the rules set forth by United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA), who lay out all of the info beforehand to avoid any failed drug tests unless you’re actually trying to cheat.
“You’re either clean or you’re not. There is no gray zone when it comes to full contact sports, period,” Tate told MMA Tonight on Sirius XM via Bloody Elbow. “I don’t care if USADA says, Miesha, don’t eat Cheerios the week of your fight. Guess what, I ain’t eating Cheerios. That’s the rules. They make it so the sport is safe and clean, and we need to follow them,” said Tate.
“You know the rules directly ahead of time,” Tate explained. “USADA hands out pamphlets, tons of information. They make it very very easy. If you have a question, if there’s anything that a doctor prescribes you, you have phone numbers, you have a website. You can run it through a number of people to verify if this is a safe product or not,” declared Tate.
To hear Miesha tell it, she’s always made sure to utilize all of the information USADA provides in order to prevent any hiccups.
“I utilized this many times myself, just to be precautions,” she said. “I have a slight thyroid disorder. My thyroid runs a little bit slow. I took a natural pig hormone, but I wanted to make sure that it was safe, it was okay. It was cleared, and it was alright, but I went through the process to make sure that what I was putting into my body — I sent all my supplements to USADA to have them cleared, and they’re happy to do that. And that gives me the reassurance because I don’t want to accidentally take something.”
While many fighters in the past have used the “tainted supplement” excuse or stated that they simply didn’t know a certain item was banned, Tate says claiming to be ignorant doesn’t fly.
“But if you’re ‘accidentally’ speeding, and a police officer pulls you over, and said, ‘sorry sir, I was going 20 over, I didn’t realize,’ you’re still going 20 over, period. You can’t use ignorance as an excuse, and it needs to be 100% clean, not basically clean.”
Jones is facing a four-year suspension from the fight game should USADA decide to lay the hammer down. If that’s the case, there is no telling if Jones will ever return to his full form.
