UPDATE (12:30 p.m.):
Jon Jones held a press conference to address the alleged doping violation on Thursday morning and got very emotional as he issued an apology to Daniel Cormier:
See original story below.
Â
UFC 200 got significantly less exciting on Wednesday night.
Just three days before the big event is set to go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White held a press conference at the MGM Grand and announced that Jon Jones will not fight Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 after being informed by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency of a potential doping violation. White revealed that Jones reportedly failed a USADA drug test on June 16 by testing positive for a banned substance. Jones has the right to appeal the USADA’s ruling, but it’s unclear if he will file a formal appeal at this time.
"Obviously, he’s got the chance to prove himself innocent before being called guilty, but if it’s true, obviously, it’s super, super disappointing," White said at his press conference, before talking about how upset he is for Cormier. "This is devastating to Daniel Cormier mentally and physically—he just went through a camp—and financially. This pay-per-view is trending to be massive, and he shares in that revenue, so it’s devastating to him in every way it could possibly be."
The UFC released a statement a short time after White's press conference and indicated that they will give refunds to fans who bought tickets to UFC 200 in order to see the Jones/Cormier fight:
Jones, who was suspended from the UFC indefinitely in 2015 after testing positive for cocaine and being involved in a hit-and-run accident, hasn’t addressed his potential doping violation yet. But Cormier, who suffered the first and only loss of his UFC career to Jones during UFC 182 in January 2015, expressed the same sentiments as White on Wednesday night and said he is "very disappointed" about missing out on the chance to fight at UFC 200.
"I’ve worked really hard to prepare for this," he said. "You know, you take care of what you can take care of and that’s what I did. More than anything, just really disappointed."
Other professional MMA fighters also addressed the news about Jones on Twitter. Some expressed shock at the situation, while others lobbied to replace Jones and fight Cormier:
Conor McGregor’s trainer had this to say about the UFC's decision to remove McGregor from the UFC 200 card back in April after he refused to take part in a press conference for it:
UFC fans were obviously disappointed to hear the news as well. They took to Twitter to reveal their reactions and sent Jon Jones’ name to the top of Twitter’s trending list overnight. Many of them called Jones out in their tweets:
White said there is a chance Jones could be replaced at the last minute on the UFC 200 card. But for now, the UFC has designated the much-anticipated Brock Lesnar/Mark Hunt match as the main event. White also revealed Jones could potentially face a two-year ban from the UFC for testing positive for a banned substance.
Jones is scheduled to hold a press conference at MGM Grand at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.
