Jon Jones just can’t seem the catch a break. After testing positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug test, ‘Bones’ was removed from his colossal main event unified 205-pound title bout with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200. Jones was visibly upset at the press conference he and his
After testing positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug test, ‘Bones’ was removed from his colossal main event unified 205-pound title bout with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200.
Jones was visibly upset at the press conference he and his management held the day after he was scrapped from the card, and remained adamant that he did not knowingly take anything that would jeopardize his title bout with Cormier.
The former 205-pound king and his team called for the B sample to be tested in hopes of it coming back negative and still possibly having a shot at fighting tomorrow (July 9, 2016), however, USADA spokesman Ryan Madden released a statement today that the B sample confirmed the illegal substances found in Jones’ system on the A sample taken on June 16th:
“I can confirm that Mr. Jones’ B sample results have been reported by the laboratory, and that the results confirm the findings of the A sample,” Madden said.
Jones can face up to a two-year ban from USADA, as well as separate punishment from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), which does not bode well for the great mixed martial artist’s fighting career.
Since the fiasco’s sudden inception, Jones has been replaced by former UFC middleweight champion Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, who will take on Cormier in a three round light heavyweight bout tomorrow night in place of the troubled Jones.
UFC 200 is set to go down tomorrow night from the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas on pay-per-view (PPV), but stay with LowKick for the latest on Jones and his trials with USADA as it comes…
His UFC 200 light heavyweight title unification bout with Daniel Cormier in the main event of this Saturday night’s (July 9, 2016) blockbuster event from Las Vegas may be ruined, but interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones let the world know that he’s sorry for failing a USADA drug test and will fight the accusations
His UFC 200 light heavyweight title unification bout with Daniel Cormier in the main event of this Saturday night’s (July 9, 2016) blockbuster event from Las Vegas may be ruined, but interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones let the world know that he’s sorry for failing a USADA drug test and will fight the accusations in a short press conference from Las Vegas today.
Suggesting that a tainted supplement could be to blame for his failure, Jones laid out his apology for his fans and his employers, while his manager Malki Kawa laid out some brief details of the course of action they’re planning to take in order to clear “Bones’” name.
For what it’s worth, Jones, who has routinely been accused of being a less-than-genuine person, appeared genuinely distraught and emotional as he was driven to tears while discussing the sticky situation in this short video snippet from today’s presser courtesy of Fancy MMA. Check it out:
During the segment, Jones revealed that while he had not spoken with UFC President Dana White, he had spoken with UFC CEO and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, to apologize for the massive windfall:
“I have not talked to Dana White yet, but I would like to. I talked to Lorenzo Fertitta and I told him I would never cheat. I pride myself on my work ethic and I just apologized to him.”
As for his upcoming fight with USADA, Jones said his team was going through every supplement he had taken in order to learn more about the banned substance he was pulled off UFC 200 for supposedly taking:
“There’s a few things that have nothing to do with performance that I’ve tried. And, like I said, whatever it is, I can’t even pronounce it, I’ve never even heard of it, so I’m learning about it myself. Right now I’m just going through and thinking everything I’ve taken leading up to the fight, and we’re going through a process of getting everything figured out.”
It’s worth noting that “Bones” did appear genuinely bad about his forced withdrawal from UFC 200, but that won’t save UFC 200, the onetime historical event that will always carry an asterisk from this massive mess that threatens to overshadow three straight nights of incredible martial arts action.
With the UFC and the entire MMA community still trying to wrap their collective heads around the devastating news that Jon Jones had been removed from his UFC 200 main event against rival Daniel Cormier due to a potential USADA violation, the troubled former champion appeared in front of fans and media in Las Vegas
First, Jones issued an apology to his UFC and his fans:
“Oh man. I, um, I want to start by apologizing to all the fans, all the fans who came out to support me for UFC 200. Obviously the UFC, the Fertittas, for not being able to perform, and I know there’s been a lot going into this event, all the staff of the UFC. And Daniel Cormier – I want to apologize to Daniel Cormier. I know this fight means a lot to him. The fight meant a lot to me, and the fight’s not happening. I really don’t know what to say. I’m really sorry about this happening.”
From there, his manager Malki Kawa took the mic, noting that the last day was obviously a storm and that they were going to fight the allegations:
“What can I tell you guys is this last 24 hours was a whirlwind. We got the notification from Jeff Novitzky of the UFC that there was a possible flag for some PED violation. We’re here this morning to basically deny that, apologize that this has happened, and go from there. But at this point, we’re not going to get into the details of the notice that we got, simply because we’re going to do what we have to do to fight this.”
Expanding on that, Kawa assured the press that Jones’ B sample was already being tested:
“The B sample’s being tested today.”
Jones then spoke again, adding that he has never been and is not an advocate of performance-enhancing drugs, and has taken the same supplements throughout his career:
“The whole situation really sucks. It really sucks. It really hurts a lot. You know supposedly they found something in one of my samples I have no clue what it is. I don’t even know how to pronounce it. I’ve been taking the same supplements my whole career. And I’ve been so outspoken about being against any type of performance enhancers; I’m still to this day extremely against performance enhancers. The whole thing sucks because, you know, being labeled as someone who would ever cheat, it just hurts me more than anything else I’ve ever been through in my career. It just sucks, right now I’m kind of like, I don’t really know how I feel about it.”
Kawa took back over again, noting that Jones is still emotional about the whole scenario as they attempt to fight through the necessary steps to clear his already sullied name:
“Obviously it just happened. He’s a little emotional about it; he’s a little distraught about it. It’s not an easy thing for him to swallow. So obviously we’re just going to go step-through-step through the process and take it day-by-day.”
Discussion then shifted to the specifics of Jones’ failure, to which Kawa said he couldn’t go into great detail about. All he could reveal was that the Jones camp felt their fighter would be exonerated by the end of the process:
“From my preliminary understanding of it, absolutely, one hundred percent. So, without saying too much more, you know, I feel like by the time this is all said and done, it’ll be alright.”
From that point of view, it seemed as if Kawa and Jones were insisting that the failure could have been a tainted supplement, something that has seen previously flagged combatant Yoel Romero and Tim Means receive shortened suspensions after initially being tabbed for PEDs.
With details still scarce, Kawa went as far as to suggest that was the case without saying it outright:
“It could be. I don’t want to say much more than that because I gotta go through all the reasonable steps, but it could be.”
The tainted supplement defense seems to be one that nearly every fighter is using as their go-to fallback when flagged for a potential USADA violation, and indeed, in these early days of working out the kinks of the UFC’s new and increased testing partnership, it may in fact be a viable defense.
But with drug-based (performance-enhancing or not) violations seemingly racking up for Jones with no end in sight, he’s going to have to put together quite the argument to find himself cleared of this one.
