UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been ruled out of his bout with incumbent champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 200 this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Jeff Novitzky, the UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance, remarked Jones tested positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition sample taken on June 16 by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Regarded as the No 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, Jones has failed drug tests in two of his past three scheduled fights. Jones tested positive for apparent cocaine use before his first fight with Cormier at UFC 182 in January 2015.
In a statement, UFC said the UFC organization was notified that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Jon Jones of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on June 16, 2016. The statement further reads that USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It was further added that it important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full fair legal review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. The UFC statement also disclosed that there is insufficient time for a full review before the scheduled bout because Jones was scheduled to compete against Daniel Cormier this coming Saturday, July 9 in Las Vegas and therefore the fight has been removed from the fight card.
The statement also reads the three-round heavyweight bout between Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt as a result will become the UFC 200 main event. UFC President Diana White said the new headliner will be the previous co-main event heavyweight bout between Mark Hunt (12-10-1 MMA, 7-4-1 UFC) and former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (5-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC).
The American mixed martial artist served a suspension for much of 2015 after his involvement in a hit-and-run accident. He now faces a further two years’ ban, which would take him to the age of 30 and could go as high as four years for “aggravating circumstances.” He was just returning from a ban of one year hit and run incident and was stripped of the UFC crown by the fight organization.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time, Jon Jones became the youngest champion in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship when he won the title in March 2011 at the age of 23. The UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was reinstated into the UFC in October 2015 following his arrest on felony hit-and-run charges. His UFC debut came against Andre Gusmão at UFC 87 on August 9, 2008 and took a unanimous decision victory and won his next bout against veteran Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009 to earn another unanimous decision victory. Jones then went on to defeat former IFL Light Heavyweight Champion Vladimir Matyushenko by TKO in the first round on August 1, 2010, at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko.
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