You’d expect Daniel Cormier to be angry after it was revealed Tuesday that Jon Jones failed a drug test ahead of their UFC 214 bout, but the light heavyweight fighter is holding back for now.
Jones defeated Cormier by TKO in the third round of the July 29 fight, but he could be stripped of his belt after the positive test for Turinabol came to light. But instead of lashing out, Cormier gave MMAFighting.com a very measured response to the news.
“It’s hard to find words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” Cormier said. “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.
“In my mind, on July 29, I competed and I lost. 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.
“Thank you to all my fans who have supported me during this dark time. I love you all very much.”
As for Jones, his agent, Malki Kawa, told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday the fighter is “devastated” because “he was being perfect and double-checking everything” after the one-year ban he received from the UFC before UFC 200 — which also was supposed to be against Cormier — for testing positive for steroids.
Kawa pointed to many random drug tests Jones passed before UFC 214 and believes the fighter took a tainted supplement.
“I’m encouraging everyone to go out there and take a look at the tests he passed and the test he failed,” Kawa said. “It’s a three-week window the month of the fight. Jon has passed seven unannounced tests, and the one he’s going to fail is the one that’s announced? It’s weird to me, there’s a lot of things here that don’t add up, and to the UFC, it doesn’t add up.
“The UFC knows. They look at his tests on (July) 6th and the 7th, and he passed both of those, there’s nothing in his system. So for him to start doing steroids, especially the steroid they’re saying he took, he would’ve had to have been doing that steroid for awhile for it to actually do anything. He just took it to take it? I mean, to me, there’s a lot of issues with this. That’s why I just wish … they would change the way they released information, absolutely, because I think that if the B sample comes back negative, then this man just got crushed again for no reason.”
Jones faces a four-year suspension from USADA if it’s proved he’s a repeat offender.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
