'That's the actual truth': UFC star Jon Jones confirms he once hid from drug test

Jon Jones is known for living life on the edge.

The former UFC champion has failed a couple of drug tests and had numerous brushes with the law while dominating the light-heavyweight division.

Rumours about Jones hiding under the cage at his gym to avoid taking a drug test has been doing the rounds in MMA circles for years. Opponents would often bring it up when trash talking Jones but it had never been clarified until this week.

Jones confirmed on Twitter that the story is true on Thursday, stating he hid from a sample collector who came to administer a drug test for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which was apparently before the UFC teamed up with USADA in 2015.

Jones, wrote that he had "just smoked a blunt" and was afraid he would fail the drug test for marijuana. Ironically, cannabis is not on the banned list for out-of-competition drug testing. It is banned during in-competition drug testing that is done in the hours before and after fight night.

The story about Jones came to the fore during a social media exchange with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Adesanya tweeted that Jones "stayed under the cage to hide from USADA during a random drug test."

Jones responded, "I was hiding from Nevada State Athletic Commission, not USADA and that was years ago. I had just smoked a blunt and was afraid I would fail my test for weed. ... That's the actual truth."

Jones had never commented on the matter directly until his tweet but the story first came to light when former Jones rival Chael Sonnen told Joe Rogan's podcast in 2016.

Fighters who avoid drug tests can face years on the banned list.

Jones has been suspended twice in the past four years for performance-enhancing drugs.

Although, an investigation found there was no evidence Jones intentionally took the substances in either case.