Tag: Nate Diaz Dustin Poirier

Report: Jon Jones Won’t Fight At November’s UFC 230

It looks like Jon Jones really won’t be fighting on the UFC 230 PPV in November.

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Jon Jones won’t be fighting at UFC 230 come November.

Should he want to, everything would fit perfectly in place. Jones’ United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension is up next month on October 28th. “Bones” was given a 15-month suspension for a failed drug test last year after his third-round knockout win over Daniel Cormier.

The UFC is heading back to Madison Square Garden in November in Jones’ home state of New York. Unfortunately, it seems pretty clear that the former 205-pound champion won’t be headlining the card. UFC President Dana White and Jones’ manager have both confirmed he won’t be on the card.

Instead, reports have emerged that Jones is in talks for a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson at a later date. Despite these facts, fans are still holding out hope. Jones’ coach, Mike Winkeljohn, spoke to Submission Radio about the matter.

He himself said he doesn’t expect Jones to fight on the MSG card:

“I wouldn’t put money on him being there for the Madison Square Garden card. You know what, Jon is so smart that he wants to come back and do it right. He’s not in any rush to jump in there and do it ill-prepared.

“He wants to make sure he trains for the opponent once he finds out what that opponent is and do his homework. That’s what people don’t understand about Jon Jones, is he does his homework. Hours and hours and hours of studying tape, and hours and hours hitting these unpredictable things that he uses in the fight.

“But they’re really predictable for him because he’s put so much time into practicing. Jon is a student and a master of the game at reading his opponent. He knows what his opponent’s gonna do before they do it because he studies them.

“So, I would think Jon would want to find out who that is and have a good training camp for it.”

Currently, UFC 230 is co-headlined by a lightweight fight between Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier. With top stars such as Conor McGregor, Jones, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, and any others ruled out – it should be interesting what ends up headlining the card.

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Quote: Jon Jones Is ‘Scared To Eat Out’ Because Of Tainted USADA Test

So many people are supposedly out to get him, Jon Jones is scared to eat out at restaurants. Jones recently received a 15-moth USADA suspension. He was suspended for failing a drug test prior to his UFC 214 knockout over Daniel Cormier. The banned substance in question was anabolic steroid Turinabol. But the troubled former champion maintained […]

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So many people are supposedly out to get him, Jon Jones is scared to eat out at restaurants.

Jones recently received a 15-moth USADA suspension. He was suspended for failing a drug test prior to his UFC 214 knockout over Daniel Cormier. The banned substance in question was anabolic steroid Turinabol.

But the troubled former champion maintained his innocence throughout. The situation was somehow floating before USADA for over a year. The UFC’s anti-doping partner finally made the call and caused widespread controversy in MMA.

Jones and his team still claim someone tainted his supplements or even food. Jones is apparently so worried that he won’t even eat out in public.

Public Out To Get ‘Bones?’

That’s the case according to Jones’ longtime coach Mike Winkeljohn.

The JacksonWink head coach recently told Submission Radio (via MMA Mania) that his troubled star is afraid to eat out because of fear someone might contaminate his food:

“Well, I think [USADA] should have made a deal a long time ago. There’s no doubt something got in there somehow, but it’s scary now. Jon’s even scared to eat out, he’s scared to be anywhere. He’s like, gosh, what if that waiter doesn’t like me, the bus boy doesn’t like me? You know? Who knows what’s going to happen out there. And it is kind of scary that way if you think about it.”

Many wondered why USADA took so long to hand Jones his punishment. Jones received a lengthy reduction of his possible four-year suspension for informing USADA about other fighters using ******** and other PEDs. At one point he had only been tested once by USADA in 2018. Controversy swirls.

Either way, Jones swears he never took Turinabol. His team hasn’t said what supplement was tainted, just that he is innocent. He’s eligible to return on October 28 of this year. Speculation is running wild that he’ll finally rematch Alexander Gustafsson.

Jones may be off the hook for now in terms of legal suspensions, but one more mess-up could see him banned forever.

The criticism of his response to the issue was that he never owned his mistakes and always claimed someone else would out to get him. It seems that hasn’t changed much based on Winkeljohn’s words. Will they be proven true in Jones’ umpteenth comeback?

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Manager Shoots Down Jon Jones Return At UFC 230

The stage seems to be set for one of MMA’s most anticipated rematches. But all early indications point to a Jon Jones return at November 3’s UFC 230 not happening. Last week Jones was cleared to return to action as early as October 28, 2018, by USADA. His PED-related suspension was greatly discounted for snitching […]

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The stage seems to be set for one of MMA’s most anticipated rematches. But all early indications point to a Jon Jones return at November 3’s UFC 230 not happening.

Last week Jones was cleared to return to action as early as October 28, 2018, by USADA. His PED-related suspension was greatly discounted for snitching on other fighters. The return was a shocking reveal for many fighters in the sport of MMA.

Jones has yet another life in the UFC. The timing of his 15-month suspension with USADA seemed all too curious as well. It gave him just a few days of eligibility before the lucrative UFC 230 pay-per-view from his home state of New York in November. Most predicted he would rematch longtime rival Alexander Gustafsson on the card.

Gustafsson continues to lobby for the bout, but others aren’t so sure. UFC President Dana White claimed Jones would return in early 2019 and now his longtime manager Malki Kawa insists Jones won’t return at UFC 230. Kawa appeared on today’s edition of “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” (via ESPN’s Greg Rosenstein) to shoot down the possibility of Jones fighting at UFC 230 for the time being:

“Malki Kawa, the manager of former UFC champion Jon Jones, told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani his client likely would not be fighting at UFC 230 in New York in November. The event, taking place at Madison Square Garden, still has yet to announce a main event.”

“Gus” Won’t Give Up

Gustafsson was also on Helwani’s show today.

He agreed that the booking was a no-brainer. It’s also the only fight that makes sense for him in his opinion. The UFC has not yet reached out to him in an effort to book it, however:

UFC 230 is currently without a main event as of this writing. Nate Diaz will make his long-awaited return versus Dustin Poirier at the event. It’s a huge fight, yet the return of New York native “Bones” is the biggest possible spectacle they can book for the card.

We’ve seen and heard White and the UFC do one thing and claiming it would never happen. Is Kawa playing the same game?

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Jon Jones Issues Statement On Latest UFC Comeback

Jon Jones is eligible to return next month. And now it’s time Jones issues his first statement on that pending return. The sport of MMA is on fire with the deluge of news surrounding Jones’ pending comeback after he was given a 15-month USADA suspension. The MMA world offered their mixed reactions online. One popular UFC […]

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Jon Jones is eligible to return next month. And now it’s time Jones issues his first statement on that pending return.

The sport of MMA is on fire with the deluge of news surrounding Jones’ pending comeback after he was given a 15-month USADA suspension. The MMA world offered their mixed reactions online. One popular UFC champion ripped USADA for their call on Jones’ behalf.

Daniel Cormier offered his own seething assessment of the scenario, taking USADA to task for his own history of being clean.

It’s time to hear from the man himself. Jones issued his own statement on Instagram. He was understandably emotional before saying “comeback season” was underway. Check it out here:

“It’s difficult to express myself at this moment but I can definitely say my heart is filled with gratitude and appreciation. I want to thank all of you who have stood by me during the toughest stretch of my life. It has meant the world to me and always will. But now is the time to shift the focus front and center to the road ahead. Greatness is what I’m chasing and the path to reclaiming my throne is now officially open. Comeback Season begins now.”

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Daniel Cormier Reacts To Jon Jones’ Pending Return

It didn’t take long for Daniel Cormier to react to Jon Jones’ pending return. News broke tonight that Jones had been given a 15-month suspension for his positive drug test last year. He is now eligible to return on October 28, 2018. The date was curiously close to November 3’s UFC 230 from New York […]

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It didn’t take long for Daniel Cormier to react to Jon Jones’ pending return.

News broke tonight that Jones had been given a 15-month suspension for his positive drug test last year. He is now eligible to return on October 28, 2018. The date was curiously close to November 3’s UFC 230 from New York City, New York.

Jones’ punishment elicited a wide range of reactions from the mixed martial arts universe because of a polarizing nature. Lightweight ruler Khabib Nurmagomedov ripped USADA due to having “too much politics.” Khabib’s American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) teammate Cormier offered his own position as a co-host of tonight’s ‘UFC Tonight.’

A fired-up Cormier claimed he only talked about Jones because he had to. Cormier reiterated he’s the double-champ. He’s moved past Jones – or so he says:

“I’m the UFC double champion,” Cormier said. “I have bosses in the back and I’m talking about this guy because I have too. I’ve moved past that guy. I went about my business. I went and won another title. Now this guy’s suspension is up, so we’ll see what happens.”

Cormier then posed the question of why he should fight Jones a third time. He’s headed for a title defense versus Brock Lesnar early next year. Cormier believes he should stay focused on that, but many would argue he still has to defeat Jones to legitimize his 205-pound throne:

“I think people get excited, people get excited about the prospect of us fighting again, but I’ve got a fight with Brock Lesnar. Why would I look back? Why would I look back to Jones now when I’ve got a fight? Obviously as a competitor I want to fight the guy whose beat me twice, but I’ve got a fight. Why go back? I’ve got a bigger fight with Brock Lesnar, why should I go back?”

The UFC two-division champ then went off on USADA like Nurmagomedov. He cited his shining record with drug testing and then blasted USADA for him even having to discuss this circumstance:

“Here’s the deal: When it comes to USADA, they can’t come to my house anymore at 6 a.m,” Cormier said. “What’s the point? They’ve been to my house 15 times. USADA, don’t come to my house anymore. You don’t need too. You don’t need to come. I’m not going to fail a test, I’m not going to make any mistakes,

“I’m not going to have to sit up there and go, ‘I’m serious this time, guys. I promise I wasn’t really trying to cheat.’ It’s never going to happen with me. 70 times. 70 times since I started wrestling internationally and I’ve never made a mistake. It’s not that hard. So even to be sitting here and doing this again shows – guys are ridiculous.”

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Rips Jon Jones’ USADA Suspension

The MMA world is spinning. Earlier tonight news of Jon Jones’ USADA suspension broke, giving ‘Bones’ a rather rapid return date. The somewhat shocking news resulted in Twitter reacting with a mixed bag of responses. Some fighters criticized USADA for taking it too easy on the oft-troubled former champion. One of those fighters is UFC lightweight […]

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The MMA world is spinning. Earlier tonight news of Jon Jones’ USADA suspension broke, giving ‘Bones’ a rather rapid return date.

The somewhat shocking news resulted in Twitter reacting with a mixed bag of responses. Some fighters criticized USADA for taking it too easy on the oft-troubled former champion.

One of those fighters is UFC lightweight champion Nurmagomedov “The Eagle” isn’t a fan of Jones’ USADA suspension due to the supposed politics involved. He hopped on social media to criticize the decision:

Nurmagomedov will defend his 155-pound title against Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 229.

Jones, meanwhile, could headline his own massive card in New York City. UFC 230 will go down on November 3. Jones has been rumored for a fight with rival Alexander Gustafsson.

The results of his USADA suspension are sure to rate as MMA’s hottest topic for days to come. There’s the school of thought he was let off easy. On the other hand, there are those who want to see him fight due to his historic talent.

Khabib believes that USADA simply has too much politics involved. What do you think?

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