Jones was yanked Wednesday night from Saturday’s UFC 200 headliner against Daniel Cormier when the organization was informed of his potential violation in a USADA drug test administered June 16.
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Emotional, the MMA star issued an apology to his opponent Daniel Cormier, while denying any wrongdoing.
Jones and his camp said that they will make an appeal.
In a news conference on Thursday, he apologised to Cormier, saying: “I know this fight means a lot to him”.
“I have been so outspoken about being against any type of performance enhancers. I’m optimistic, man. At the end of the day, I’m a fighter”.
“The whole thing sucks”.
According to Jones, he has no clue what was found in one of his drug-test samples that led to his being removed from UFC 200.
When asked if his company would cut ties with Jones, Post said the company would hold off on a decision until the process is complete. Although Silva admitted he felt empathy for Jones’ situation, he said their relationship wouldn’t stop him from taking the fight.
“I believe something good will come from this”, Jones said through tears. He’ll have his hands very full with the current champ, who has defeated Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson in two consecutive title fights after losing to Jones the fight before. He was hit with a doping suspension that invalidated his only win in that stretch, and he had surgery to remove his gall bladder just seven weeks ago, forcing him to drop out of a scheduled fight in his native Brazil.
In the meantime, Jones said he’s trying to take stock of anything that could have caused the positive test and is headed back to his adopted hometown of Albuquerque, N.M. He anticipated he may be stripped of the interim title.
Neither Jones nor two representatives from his team, manager Malki Kawa and publicist Denise White, would disclose what substance was found in Jones’ test.
Cormier was downbeat when he appeared alongside White at the hastily arranged news conference, realizing he is likely to miss out on millions from his share of the pay-per-view revenue unless a late replacement fight can be booked. In the meantime, Jones planned to leave Las Vegas and begin going over everything he took in preparation to fight Daniel Cormier on Saturday night.
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“I want to start by apologizing to all the fans who came out to support me”. I really just want to apologize to everybody sincerely. This fight meant a lot to me, and it’s not happening.
