UFC president Dana White stands between Daniel Cormier (L) and Jon Jones before UFC 200.
DANIEL Cormier has reacted to the news of Jon Jones’ shocking failed drug test, declaring he doesn’t “know what to think anymore”.
UFC president Dana White reacted to the news, revealing the troubled champion has cost himself a priceless opportunity: A shot at heavyweight king Stipe Miocic, to potentially join Conor McGregor as a concurrent two-weight champion.
White confirmed that Jones had tested positive, with the UFC notified by USADA that he failed a test for a variety of steroid after regaining the light-heavyweight belt from Cormier at UFC 214 last month.
Cormier was devastated by the loss and was left mystified by Jones’ latest steroid bust.
“It’s hard to find words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” Cormier said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“I’m disappointed to hear the news. It’s very emotional. We as athletes are entitled to due process, and I will refrain from saying much more until I know exactly what happened.”
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“In my mind, on July 29, I competed and I lost,” Cormier continued.
“I thought Jon Jones was the better man that day. I don’t know what to think anymore. I can’t believe we are going through all of this again. We will see what happens next.”
High-profile New Zealand MMA fighter Mark Hunt also let his feelings be known in a brutal takedown of Jones on Instagram.
Hunt, an outspoken critic of drug cheats in mixed martial arts, has previously taken the UFC to court following a loss to former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 in July last year – after which Lesnar failed subsequent drug tests.
On Wednesday Hunt said that Cormier deserved Jones’ giant bank balance.
“Dc should get all of jones money and your a betch jones cheating ass loser Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who gives me strength plus the juice,” Hunt wrote.
White added Jones’ UFC career may be finished, having only just served a drug ban that may now ensure any future sanction runs for multiple years.
“It’s unbelievable,” White told reporters in Las Vegas. “These never come at a good time, they’re always bad – especially for someone like Jon Jones.
“Wherever you sit in MMA, in my opinion, he’s the best ever. The best ever. That makes it even more unfortunate.
“If this ends up and he gets two or three [years], it might be the end of his career. So to talk about his legacy – it’s probably the end of his career.
“It’s tough, he’s 30 – 33, 34, trying to make a comeback again. And you look at what could have been, what he could have done, it’s sad.”
Jon Jones during UFC 214.Source:AFP
White made the stunning revelation that Jones’ next fight was being planned as a heavyweight showdown with Miocic at UFC 218 in Detroit during December, which would have given ‘Bones’ the chance to become only the second man to ever hold two UFC titles at once.
“We were talking about Jones fighting heavyweight – [Stipe] probably,” he said. “He’s devastated this guy [Miocic], that that fight fell through. We’re trying to put something else together. We’re working on something big for him.”
Daniel Cormier (L) fights Jon Jones at UFC 214.Source:AFP
White also suggested that Cormier would be directly reinstated as champion, with the stripping of Jones’ title merely a formality. Cormier first won the title when it was stripped from Jones over a 2015 hit and run incident involving a pregnant woman, beating Anthony Johnson to the vacant belt after losing to ’Bones’ at UFC 182.
“As far as I’m concerned, Cormier would be the champion,” he said. “The only guy he’s ever lost to in his whole career is Jon Jones.
“He was the champ, he’s the champion if Jones isn’t.”
White said he had spoken to Cormier, who is currently holidaying in Hawaii with his family: “He couldn’t believe it.”
White said he still had a fractured relationship with Jones, a partnership that has been frosty since his UFC 200 drug bust.
“Jon and I still haven’t talked since 200,” he said. “Hi, couple words here and there but we haven’t talked.”
UFC anti-doping boss Jeff Novtizky said the entire process of determining Jones’ guilt or innocence may take six months to a year. Jones’ camp has suggested it suspects contamination of his anti-doping sample.
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Originally published as Stunned Cormier reacts to Jones’ shock drug bust
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