Anthony Smith Claims Jon Jones Failed Multiple Drug Tests Ahead Of Their 2019 Title Fight

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC

One-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger, Anthony Smith has claimed that the Nevada State Athletic Commission informed him that Jon Jones had failed multiple drug tests during the week of their light heavyweight title fight at UFC 235 in March of 2019.

Smith, who headlined the event against the former two-time undisputed gold holder, suffered a unanimous decision loss to the Albuquerque based look-see-do fighter, dropping a 48-44 decision across all three judges' scorecards after the latter was deducted two points after landing an unintentional illegal knee strike in the fourth round. 

In the time since, Nebraska native, Smith rebounded with a rear-naked choke victory over three-time title chaser, Alexander Gustafsson in Sweden, before a pair of defeats against upcoming title challenger, Glover Teixeira, and the #3 ranked, Aleksandar Rakic. 

Enjoying some good form recently, the Factory X trainee managed to take home a pair of victories against Devin Clark, the first via a first round triangle in a short-notice main event, as well as a UFC 261 first round doctor's stoppage win over Jimmy Crute, who suffered from drop foot as a result of a leg kick landed by Smith midway through the first round. 

Ahead of his UFC Fight Night clash with Ryan Spann in September, Smith spoke on The Jenna Ben Show prior to his matchup with Cute -- where during a clip which recently reemerged, he reflected on his 2019 matchup with former champion, Jones, claiming that he was informed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission during the week of their UFC 235 clash, that the champion had been failing pre-fight drug tests during the week.

"I'm in the same place," Smith said. "After the Glover (Teixeira) fight, he had a lot of negative things to say and kind of had taken some shots at me for the break-in and kind of making fun of me which really was kind of out of left field. Because I've never attacked Jon (Jones) personally."

"Up until that point, he had never taken a shot at me personally," Smith explained. "He'd obviously said he's gonna kick my ass, he's even said, 'I don't like that he said this', but he's never been able to refute anything I said because I always talk about Jon very factually"

"He does this well, he does that well, he was suspended for this, but I never get into his drug test bullsh*t," Smith said. "I never even told anyone, Jon failed every drug test the entire week leading up to our fight. Every single drug test. I never brought it up one time in any interview, in any media thing, nothing. The commission (Nevada State Athletic Commission) called me every day to let me know he was still failing his drug tests. I never said anything, I let it be because I was just focused on myself and always believed that if you just focus on yourself you're going to be that much more successful." (H/T BJPENN.com)