The saga of Jon Jones and UFC 200 has come to a close.
On Thursday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission officially approved a proposed agreement that will see former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones suspended for one year retroactive to a failed drug test that was revealed July 6, according to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting, who confirmed the news with NSAC executive director Bob Bennett.
Jones found himself in hot water just days before he was set to be in the main event UFC 200 when it was revealed that a sample collected in June contained anti-estrogen agents that are banned for their potential use in steroid cycles. The report forced the UFC to remove Jones from the card.
The 29-year-old fighter and his legal team would later go to arbitration with the United States Anti-Doping Agency and offer an appeal based on the argument that Jones took a tainted sex pill. Though the appeal was accepted by the USADA, arbitrators decided that Jones should still be held responsible for his recreational supplement use and he was issued a one-year ban.
Jones' suspension from the NSAC will run concurrently with that of the USADA. He will be eligible for MMA competition again in July 2017.
"Bones" only competed once in 2016, winning an interim title from Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 when original opponent Daniel Cormier bowed out with an injury. Cormier currently holds the undisputed light heavyweight title that Jones carried from March 2011-April 2015.
