Jon Jones was prepared for the biggest fight of his life and he was scheduled to compete in that opposite bitter rival and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of this past Saturday’s (July 9, 2016) UFC 200 from Las Vegas, Nevada. However, the fight never came to fruition, as Jones was pulled from the scrap after being notified of a potential anti-doping violation just days prior to the event.
“Bones” held a press conference the morning (July 7, 2016) after the news was announced, but his team hasn’t said much regarding the finer details of the situation. His manager Malki Kawa did, however, appear on yesterday’s (July 11, 2016) edition of the MMA Hour to discuss the scenario.
As for how the process of informing Jones of the news went, Kawa could only describe it as ‘heartbreaking’:
“It was heartbreaking,” Kawa said Monday on The MMA Hour. “It was really heartbreaking, because you tell him this and he’s looking at me like, ‘what are you talking about?’ He thought that it couldn’t be for real. This can’t happening. The team thought the same thing.
“Everybody was just excited, we’re going through fight week, things are going as planned, everything is great, the weight cut is awesome, he’s in great spirits, the team is fired up, everybody is around him, we’re doing our thing, and basically I walk out into the hallway and have to break the news t everybody that we’re not fighting. It went from excitement to as if I told somebody that somebody died. It was that quiet.”
Set to headline the biggest card in promotional and possibly sport history, Jones clearly missed out on a massive opportunity, specifically financially as Kawa claimed that “Bones” was going to take in an ‘eight figure payday’:
“You’re talking about an eight-figure payday,” Kawa said. “Eight figures. Conor (McGregor) can talk about whatever he gets and all of that, Jon is by far the highest paid guy in the UFC, and the numbers that were shown that day for everybody from Brock (Lesnar) and the way down, Jon was making more than all of that. So for me, we lost out on an eight-figure payday, including myself. I wasn’t going to make eight figures, but I was going to get a percentage of that. The team was going to get a percentage of that. If you think that by any chance I’m going to sit here and be like, ‘hey man, take this supplement,’ then I’m just as stupid as the people who think that I’m an enabler.”
As far as why Jones’ team has yet to reveal what he tested positive for, Kawa explained that he would like to work out his plan before saying much more. He also once again defended his client:
“I want to explain to everybody why I don’t disclose anything about it,” Kawa said. “It’s not that we’re trying to hide anything or that we’re not trying to get ahead of it and tell people what it is. I’m going to stand by our comments at the press conference. Jon, at no point in time, was a cheater, has never cheated, has never taken any substance that he knowingly knew of that was on the banned list. The same thing I did with Yoel Romero. You remember I came on your show, I said ‘hey guys, look, he didn’t cheat, we have an idea of where this thing could’ve possibly come from,’ and that’s only because we get notified.”
Stay tuned to LowKickMMA as more news regarding the former light heavyweight champion unfolds.
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