“This is devastating for Daniel Cormier“, UFC president Dana White said in a hastily arranged news conference late on Wednesday.
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“Is there anything I can do?”
“I think I’m in good shape and I don’t want Daniel or anyone else to think I’m underestimating him”, Silva said. UFC 200, to be held this Saturday, was supposed to be headlined by the rematch of current light heavyweight champion Cormier and interim light heavyweight champion Jones.
In an interview with Colin Cowerd on FS1’s The Herd on Thursday, White said their are plenty of fighters chomping at the bit to face the light heavyweight champion and that UFC will “get a fight done”.
White noted that he did not want to disrupt the fight cards for UFC 200 as it has already been disrupted when USADA flagged Jones for a possible Anti-Doping violation. To this day, I’m extremely against performance enhancers.
If Bisping fights Cormier, he would be competing for the light heavyweight title.
UFC 200’s main event, however, will become a non-title fight.
Silva, the former middleweight champion, had been scheduled to fight Uriah Hall at UFC 198 on May 14 in his home town of Curitiba, Brazil, but withdrew the week of the fight to have his gall bladder removed.
“They found something in one of my samples that I have no clue what it is”, Jones said.
“I’ve gone through a lot of phases in my UFC career, and no one’s been able to beat everything that I’ve done”, Silva said. “And if anyone would fight, I’d fight”. Instead a dark cloud with a potential two-year suspension hangs over Jones’ head after he tested positive for a banned substance.
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“If I do have to sit out for two years, I’ll definitely be back”. While Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt was initially announced as the new main event for Saturday’s bill, White revealed on Thursday that the bantamweight title tilt between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes will now serve as the headliner.
