Jon Jones: NSAC 'had no right' to leak cocaine test

Jon Jones still hasn't forgotten about how the Nevada State Athletic Commission completely bungled a pre-fight drug test prior to UFC 182.

Days after dispatching Daniel Cormier at the Jan. 3 event, it was revealed that Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites during an out-of-competition drug screening. The former UFC light heavyweight champion was fined $25,000 by the UFC for violating the company's code of conduct policy, and checked himself into rehab.

Of course, none of this should have happened.

As cocaine is not a prohibited substance out-of-competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency, Jones should have never been tested for the drug in the first place, and having the results leak was completely irresponsible on the commission's part.

"I have up to three years to sue them for what they did to me," Jones told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview, according to MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi. ... "I had no right to be doing cocaine, but they had no right to be testing me for street drugs and then putting it out to the public. I hear about the cocaine more than anything else I've ever done in my career. So, they definitely set me back huge. Let's just say I haven't forgot bout it."

Although he's undecided on whether or not he'll pursue legal action against the NSAC, it's clear Jones doesn't like how they conduct their business.

"I don't really want to get too deep into this whole situation," Jones said. "Hearing some of the things Nevada does, the way they penalized Nick Diaz for five years, the way they put my cocaine test to the public - I feel like as if that commission needs some type of commission. I feel like they can do whatever they want to whoever they want.

"Eventually, someone is going to need to stand up to these guys and question their power or at least figure out some type of rule to monitor what they can and can't do. Right now, it just seems too loose."

Jones would hit rock bottom a few months later after he was arrested following a hit-and-run accident. He was subsequently suspended by the UFC, and stripped of the light heavyweight title.

"But cocaine, you know, I tried cocaine one night and the athletic commission is there the next day," Jones said. "It was just, like, how in the world did this just go down? How did it happen this way? So now people like to paint me as this coke head, and my haters would love for me to be a coke head, but far from it.

"I would never be able to accomplish the things I have with cocaine. I was addicted to marijuana. And because you can do so much while being a marijuana addict, it's hard to admit that you're an addict. But I was, and now I'm not, and I feel set free, and I'm just so grateful for everything that has happened to me, because it's allowed me to see this and be more clear."