5 big-name fighters who could return to the UFC in 2018

#3 Jon Jones

Will USADA decide to give Jon Jones a reprieve?

The mercurial Jon Jones is currently on the shelf due to a failed drug test following his July 2017 win over Daniel Cormier. That fight saw Jones regain his UFC Light-Heavyweight title, but he’s since been stripped and could face a suspension of four years if USADA decides that he knowingly took the anabolic agent turinabol.

The positive test was, of course, his second in the space of two years and he was only just returning from a one-year suspension.

However, Jones’ first suspension was cut to a year as he managed to argue successfully that the positive test was caused by a contaminated supplement – in this case, supposedly a drug for treating erectile dysfunction.

It’d be hard to believe that Jones could use the same excuse again, but realistically when it comes to the murky world of supplements and PEDs, anything is possible.

Right now Dana White is being coy when it comes to any word on Jones, simply stating that he doesn’t know when his former champion will be back, if ever.

But if we judge on USADA’s history with the UFC and its leniency when it comes to fighters using the “tainted supplement” angle to explain away positive tests, we may well see Jones back in the cage before 2018 is out.