Jon Jones was removed from UFC 200 after the United States Anti-Doping Agency informed him of a possible doping violation on Wednesday, and UFC President Dana White was not thrilled with the untimely development.
Speaking to Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports 1’s The Herd Friday morning, White explained he’s not currently on speaking terms with Jones following the announcement, according to the show’s official Twitter account:
“Listen, I don’t know where Lorenzo [Fertitta] is on this issue, but I still haven’t talked to Jon Jones,” White said, per MMAFighting.com’s Chuck Mindenhall. “There’s nothing for me and Jon Jones to talk about. I haven’t and I’m not going to. There is nothing for us to talk about.”
White added that while the two are not currently speaking, he believes Jones didn’t knowingly consume an illegal substance.
“The guy is a professional. I truly believe…listen, I’m not the biggest Jon Jones fan right now, but I truly believe that he did take a supplement, that had the stuff in it, and it wasn’t intentional,” White said. “I truly believe that.”
During a meeting with reporters Thursday, Jones was adamant that he did not intend to ingest any sort of performance-enhancer during his training.
“I’ve been taking the same supplements for the majority of my career and I’ve been so outspoken about being against any type of performance-enhancers,” Jones said, per MMAFighting.com’s Shaun Al-Shatti. “I’m still to the day against performance-enhancers.”
Now that Jones has been booted from Saturday’s former main event clash against Daniel Cormier, he will await test results that could determine how the rest of his career proceeds. According to Mindenhall, a positive B-sample would subject the 28-year-old to a two-year ban by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
In the meantime, Cormier will attempt to rattle off a third straight win when he squares off against Anderson Silva, who lost his most recent bout against Michael Bisping on Feb. 27.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com