The fight meant a lot to me. To this day, I’m extremely against performance enhancers.
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Silva is one of the most experienced fighters on the UFC roster so he’s faced every kind of opponent that could be offered to him and he believes he knows what to expect out of Cormier.
Malki Kawa, Jones’ manager, said that Jones would appeal the test results and they have requested that Jones’ B sample be tested.
“I’m going to have to run a lot”, Silva deadpanned, before quickly saying to White: “I’m joking, boss!” I don’t want to say much more than that because I want to go through all the reasonable steps.
The company went from potentially being able to have one of its biggest stars in McGregor appear along with a Jones-Cormier rematch, to having a fight card that will be headlined by the return of Brock Lesnar, who hasn’t fought in UFC since UFC 141 in 2011.
“I think it’s an interesting, fun fight”, White said, via UFC.com.
“I feel a little bad for (Cormier)”, Lesnar said. “I didn’t think this would ever happen”.
After Jones beat Cormier by clear decision in their first meeting in January 2015, the UFC announced that Jones had tested positive for apparent cocaine use before the fight. I’m optimistic. But man, at the end of the day, I’m a fighter.
Jones, who said he has been taking supplements throughout his career, said he had never heard of – nor could even pronounce – the metabolite in question. As for Jones, he could be facing a 2-year suspension for the positive test. “It really sucks. It really hurts – a lot”. I am already thinking of the good that could come from it.
While Cormier likely will lose a significant amount of money even if he gets a late matchup, Lesnar and Hunt will get bigger paychecks from the UFCs biggest show of the summer.
It will be a non-title fight at 205 pounds, lasting three rounds.
In January of 2015, he tested positive for cocaine metabolites then, three months later, he plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, after he had hit the auto of a pregnant women in Albuquerque before fleeing the scene on foot. Arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Silva holds the UFC record for consecutive title defenses with 10.
A tearful Jones faced the media on Thursday, July 7 (Friday Manila time) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and addressed the controversial fallout. “I’m just really upset”.
“Jones might get two years (suspension)”, White said.
The addition of 185 lbs legend Silva to the card has required a reshuffle of the running order, with the women’s bantamweight title fight between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes acting as the new main event of Saturday night’s card.
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It’s now unknown what substance actually trigged the positive test, but Jones can appeal it.
