Jon Jones Vs. Daniel Cormier UFC 200 Fight Is Off Due To A Potential Doping Violation By Jones [Breaking]
We’re only a couple days away from this Saturday’s UFC 200 show, which was going to be headlined by the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier rematch, but now, ESPN has reported in a breaking news update that the fight is off due to a potential doping violation by Jones.
There was no news of a potential doping violation by Jones at Wednesday’s UFC 200 pre-fight press conference, so both Jones and the UFC were likely informed of it by the United States Anti-Doping Agency [USADA] after the presser had concluded.
As of this writing, we don’t know what Jones failed for, and we don’t know if the UFC will be able to find a replacement for him with two days notice. So, the Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt fight, which was originally scheduled to be UFC 200’s co-main-event, may be moved into the main-event spot.
There are two other title fights on the card; Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Title, and Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar for the UFC Interim Featherweight Title, where the winner will presumably fight Conor McGregor at some point later this year.
There were people who suspected Jones of PED use in the middle of last year after it was revealed that his testosterone levels were abnormally low prior to UFC 182. But Jones hasn’t failed a drug test since he returned from his suspension earlier this year.
Jones may be subject to a two-year suspension if he does fail for PEDs, which means that he’ll be missing out on his prime years because he’ll be 30-years-old by the time he’s allowed to return to the sport.
The UFC has released the following statement.
“The UFC organization was notified tonight 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.”
As of right now, there aren’t a whole lot of other details on this story, and we’ll provide them to you as they come out. But as of this moment, all we know is that Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier is off of UFC 200 and that Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt will probably be the show’s new main-event.
[Image via John Locher/AP Images]
