Jon Jones’ positive drug test ‘devastating’ blow to UFC’s once-dominant champion

When Jon Jones was a young, strong, acrobatic prospect at UFC 100 in 2009, the heights he might scale with his fighting talent seemed infinite.

Thursday, a day after being pulled off the UFC 200 main event due to a positive drug test for a performance-enhancing substance, Jones stood on the precipice of taking the sport’s steepest fall from grace.

In a news conference at MGM Grand, the former light-heavyweight champion apologized to fans, UFC leaders and his scheduled opponent, light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, but denied knowingly taking a banned substance.

The repercussions of his positive test could be a two-year ban from competition.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission will determine Jones’ penalty.

“Supposedly they found something in one of my samples, I have no clue what it is, I don’t even know how to pronounce it,” Jones, 28, said in a morning news conference. “I’ve been taking the same supplements the majority of my career and I’ve been outspoken against performance-enhancers.

“Being labeled as someone who cheats hurts me more than anything I’ve been through in my career.”

At one point, he left the stage as he struggled with his emotions. Tears at times streamed down his face after he returned.

Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa, said that a “B” sample of the one provided by Jones to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on June 16 was to be tested Thursday, with results expected shortly.

Kawa said “it could be” a tainted supplement issue after Jones’ seven other previous clean tests. But USADA, which has tested UFC fighters since last year, allows fighters to submit a list of supplements for screening and approval.

Kawa, UFC and USADA officials declined to identify what banned substance was found.

The episode marks the latest troubling matter for a fighter who seemed at the top of his game in January 2015, when he defeated Cormier by unanimous decision.

Right after that, it was reported that cocaine was found in one of his pre-fight samples. In April 2015, Jones then crashed his car into a car driven by a pregnant woman, breaking her arm and fleeing. Drug paraphernalia was found in Jones’ car.

He was stripped of his UFC belt but returned to the octagon in April, winning a bout against a replacement foe after Cormier suffered a training-camp injury.

“Pretty devastating,” Jones (22-1) said of his latest test result. “I’m trying to be as optimistic as possible, to figure out what good can come from this.

“Right now, it’s hard to see it.”

He said he told UFC Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta, “I’d never cheat.”

The positive result wasn’t met with sympathy from peers. Former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, whose comeback fight against Mark Hunt was elevated to the UFC 200 main event, said he felt badly for Cormier.

UFC officials spent Thursday working to land an emergency replacement fight for Cormier (17-1).

“Guys work hard going through training camps, putting lots of time in, and [Cormier] is the guy who really gets the short end of the stick,” Lesnar said. “It’s really unprofessional of anybody this caliber to let something happen like that.”

Nate Diaz, scheduled to fight Conor McGregor in the UFC 202 main event Aug. 20, responded to the Jones’ news by repeating what he has said before, “Everybody’s on steroids.”

Jones has attempted to reform his image after the publicity hits of his transgressions, but he was again accompanied by his crisis manager Thursday as she sought to defend himself before leaving town.

“God has a way of talking to us,” Jones said. “If I do have to sit out two years, I’ll definitely be back.”

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