
UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones has been pulled from the UFC 200 card due to an apparent doping violation. Jones was set to main-event the marquee show against Daniel Cormier, but the match has been scrapped altogether and he faces a potential two-year ban from the sport.
The 28-year-old’s positive sample came from an out-of-competition test by USADA on June 16th and while the substance is unknown, Jones himself confirmed that it was for a performance enhancing drug. This is after a positive cocaine test in January 2015, which saw him stripped of the Light-Heavyweight Championship. UFC President Dana White released a statement, saying while Jones is innocent until proven guilty, the event is too soon to risk letting him fight.
“Because Jones was scheduled to compete against Daniel Cormier this coming Saturday, July 9 in Las Vegas, there is insufficient time for a full review before the scheduled bout and therefore the fight has been removed from the fight card.”
While the fight has been pulled, Cormier, who is set to lose millions, is keen to remain on the card with Alexander Gustafsson rumoured to be his opponent. Jones apologised tearfully to Cormier and fans in a press conference, but denied testing positive intentionally.
“Supposedly they found something in one of my samples. I don’t know even know how to pronounce it. I have been so outspoken about any performance enhancers and I’m still to this day against them,” he said.
The Interim Light Heavyweight Champion admitted he had introduced new supplements to his diet recently, but denied they were performance enhancing.
“I would never take anything that would enhance my performance. I wouldn’t cheat.”
The cancellation of the match means Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt are set to main-event UFC 200 in a three round fight. Lesnar, contracted to WWE, will go down in history as the man who main-evented both UFC 100 and UFC 200.