Jon Jones pulled from UFC 200, Lesnar vs Hunt new main event
<p>In an unfortunate turn of events, Jon Jones has been pulled from his UFC 200 headliner bout against Daniel Cormier.</p>
<p>The former light-heavyweight champion was notified by USADA on Wednesday night of a potential violation of the Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in an out-of-competition drug test administered on June 16. As a result, his matchup against current champion Daniel Cormier has been scrapped and the original co-headliner bout between Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt has been elevated to the main event. The fight will remain a three-round fight.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6O9L32K4tY">A press conference was held</a> by UFC president Dana White and Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky to reveal the breaking news. White discussed his reaction to hearing about the drug test failure and its implications on what was set to be the biggest card in UFC history.</p>
<p>“I must’ve jinxed myself cause I kept going ‘everything is going so smooth, everything is going so smooth’ and nobody had been hurt, everybody was healthy so, yeah, this was a pretty brutal phone call,” said White.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-statement-on-jon-jones-july-6-2016">The UFC also released a statement</a> regarding Jones’ potential drug test failure which can be read below.</p>
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<p>"The UFC organization was notified tonight that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Jon Jones of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on June 16, 2016. <br />
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USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It is important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full fair legal review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. <br />
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However, because Jones was scheduled to compete against Daniel Cormier this coming Saturday, July 9 in Las Vegas, there is insufficient time for a full review before the scheduled bout and therefore the fight has been removed from the fight card. As a result, the three-round heavyweight bout between Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt will become the UFC 200 main event.<br />
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Consistent with all previous potential anti-doping violations, additional information or UFC statements will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.<br />
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Ticket refunds available upon request at primary point of purchase."</p>
</blockquote>
Jamal Khayat is a writer for RoughCopy MMA. He began his training in combat sports in 2009 and has competed as an amateur in both MMA and boxing. He is currently pursuing a B.S. degree in Physics at the University of Central Florida.
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