Miesha Tate: T.J. Dillashaw Case Could Be Similar to Jon Jones’s

Following T.J. Dillashaw’s adverse drug test finding that returned back from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Miesha Tate believes that anybody who has ever ingested anything currently on the USADA banned substance list should be nervous. Her reason for this dates back to the pre-USADA days of the UFC, when performance-enhancing drugs was not nearly as taboo:

“There was a point when it wasn’t strictly enforced, and I do believe that probably the majority of people were using,” Tate began on MMA Tonight on SiriusXM.

“It’s possible that he did it at one point in his career before it was a big no-no. And now, it’s a no-no, and maybe he’s clean, but maybe something is popping up that maybe he used a long time ago that he never got caught for.”

The most famous case of similar to what Miesha Tate is describing is that, of course, of Jon “Bones” Jones, who has been the subject of high controversy and scrutiny for testing positive for trace levels of turinabol recently that was found by scientists to be the result of a long-term metabolite ingested potentially many years ago. Tate believes that it’s possible that T.J. Dillashaw’s adverse finding could have been brought about by similar circumstances.

“If it happens with Jon Jones…yes, he got busted, and now it’s reoccurring, but I think we’re actually going to see more cases. As USADA is getting down to a picogram…what is that, like 50 millionth of a gram of salt or something ridiculous like that?

“If they’re that specific, if anybody’s used anything at one point in their career, then it’s possible that these picograms are still floating around."

One theory regarding the presence of these picogram levels is that a long-term metabolite is more likely to flare up when fat is being burned from the body. Tate points to the timing of Dillashaw’s USADA failure and the fact that this was T.J. Dillashaw’s first time dropping to 125 as possible evidence to support this explanation for Dillashaw’s positive test:

“So he dropped down to 125, I mean, he cut all of his body fat. If anything was gonna pop up that was from a long time ago…”