In April of 2017, one year after he was flagged for testing positive for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT), Frank Mir was handed a two-year suspension by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

About 20 months later, a test found traces of DHCMT, or turinabol, in a sample by Jon Jones – who’d recently finished serving a 15-month suspension due to the same substance. This time, though, the “atypical” finding isn’t being treated as a failed drug test; USADA believes the very low levels of the metabolites indicate a “pulsing” effect, rather than re-ingestion of the banned substance.

The issue prevented Jones (22-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) from being licensed in  Nevada, where his UFC 232 title headliner against Alexander Gustafsson (18-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) was set to take place. But California was willing to host the bout, leading the entire card to be moved to The Forum in Inglewood on six days’ notice.

Since news broke Sunday, a number of fighters have voiced their thoughts on the complicated situation. None, perhaps, as insightfully as Bellator’s Mir (18-13 MMA, 0-2 BMMA), who pointed to USADA’s inconsistency as he made parallels between his own case and that of his fellow ex-UFC champion Jones. (via Facebook)

“In the spring of 2016, when USADA representatives sat in my Las Vegas kitchen and told me that the turinabol metabolite that they said I tested positive for could only have been ingested within a window of the past several months, I vehemently proclaimed my innocence. Having never failed any drug test throughout my career, I asked if we could go back further in the past to test any supplements that I could’ve taken, but they claimed that was both impossible and unnecessary.

“They were firm on their assertion that there was only a recent period of several months that would warrant any consideration. Now, little more than two years later, Jon Jones has tested positive for the same trace of the same banned substance, and USADA is taking the position that this same low level is in fact not a new ingestion, but something that could be the result of a residual “pulsing” effect that could potentially stay in his system “forever”. Further, they are now claiming that this phenomenon is something that they are seeing in other cases as well.

“This latest shift in USADA’s position would seem to suggest one of two possibilities…Either they are a) offering special dispensation to Jon Jones or b) they are second guessing and subsequently “revising” the presentation of their own science. Either scenario leaves myself and a number of other fighters whose careers have been similarly damaged by past testing claims to wonder what this says about USADA’s consistency and their tests’ reliability. Sadly, my accusation came at a time when the UFC’s partnership with USADA had not yet been subjected to the kind of doubt that now seems to further cloud it with each new instance of convoluted circumstances.”

Mir had, indeed, been critical of USADA in the past. Speaking to MMAjunkie Radio early last year, the heavyweight detailed all the steps he took to try to prove no wrong-doing in his failed test before giving up on what would potentially be a long and costly process. Mir also criticized the dynamics in which the regulatory body played “judge, jury and executioner.”

Since then, more fighters who fought to prove their innocence after failed drug tests have questioned at least some aspects of USADA’s process. That group includes former UFC champions like Junior Dos Santos, who was able to prove he’d been the victim of tainted supplements, still-suspended Fabricio Werdum, who said he denied a request to “snitch” and Lyoto Machida, who was relieved to be freed of USADA as he made his move to Bellator.

Addressing Jones’ specific case along with UFC president Dana White, UFC VP of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky said he expected skepticism about the move. He does, however, believe the situation “exemplifies how advanced and sensitive drug tests have become” (via Twitter).

Jones, on his end, has issued an apology to fans and fellow fighters who had their plans disrupted by the card relocation. The ex-champ, however, was clear in expressing the situation was out of his control and that he’s a clean athlete. He’ll have a shot at reclaiming the UFC’s 205-pound title in Saturday’s pay-per-view rematch with Gustafsson.

For more on UFC 232, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.