He’s one of the UFC’s most recognisable and popular faces, but Jon Jones is now facing an uncertain MMA future. On Tuesday evening, the UFC released a statement relating to a “potential Anti-Doping Policy violation” by the fighter.
The sample was collected after the American’s weigh-in on 28 July, a day before he defeated Daniel Cormier for the light-heavyweight belt in Anaheim, California at UFC 214.
Following the announcement, UFC president Dana White was on hand to answer the media’s questions.
A visibly downbeat White stated “It’s brutal. It’s unbelievable.”
It was hoped the enigmatic fighter had left his troubled past behind him.
After being involved in a hit-and-run incident in 2015, he had been stripped of his title. Just a year later at UFC 200, he was stripped of the interim title after failing an anti-doping test.
It seemed UFC 214 – billed as one of the biggest ever grudge-matches – had been somewhat of a redemption story for the fighter. Despite a war of words between Cormier and Jones in the build-up to the fight, Jones had used his post-fight press conference and follow-up interviews to compliment his former foe, describing Cormier as “a model champion, a model husband, a model father, a team-mate, leader, and I aspire to be a lot more like that man because he’s an amazing human being.”
