Thursday 7 July 2016 21:17, UK
A distraught Jon Jones denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs after testing positive ahead of UFC 200, this Saturday.
UFC interim light heavyweight champion, Jones, was notified of a potential doping violation on Wednesday night, ruling him out of his bout with Daniel Cormier in the main event.
Jones tested positive for an unspecified banned substance in an out-of-competition sample taken on June 16 by USADA, which administers the promotion's anti-drug policy.
When asked if he was denying taking the substance he is accused of or if he was denying knowing it was on the banned list, Jones replied: "Both. I would never take anything that would enhance my game.
"I wouldn't cheat - that's just not who I am. So both."
This is the second occasion Jones has allegedly failed drug tests around two of his past three scheduled fights.
After Jones beat Cormier by clear decision in their first meeting in January 2015, the UFC announced that Jones had tested positive for apparent cocaine use before the fight.
The detected cocaine metabolite was not banned for out-of-competition use by the Nevada Athletic Commission, which claimed it couldn't stop him from fighting.
Jones said he was stunned when his latest test came back positive and insisted he has never taken a performance-enhancing drug.
Jones explained: "Supposedly they found something in one of my samples. I don't even know how to pronounce it. I have been taking the same supplements for the majority of my career.
"I have been so outspoken about being against any type of performance enhancers. The whole thing sucks because being labelled as someone who would ever cheat hurts me more than anything else I've ever been through in my career."
When asked what was next for him in his career, a visibly emotional Jones broke down and left the room before returning a few minutes later.
Jones began the conference with a statement apologising to fans, the UFC, the Fertitta brothers, and his scheduled opponent Cormier.
Jones said: "I want to apologise to all the fans who came to support me for UFC 200 and obviously the UFC and the Fertitas for not being able to perform. I know a lot has gone into this event
"I also want to apologise to Daniel Cormier. I know that this fight means a lot to him. The fight meant a lot to me and it is not happening.
"I just really want to apologise to everybody sincerely."
Jones' manager, Malki Kawa, stated that Jones has already requested his B sample to be tested. He expects the result of that test to come back by Thursday night.
"We got the notice last night from Jeff Novitzky of the UFC that there was a possible flag for some sort of PED violation," Kawa confirmed.
"We are here this morning to deny that, apologise that this has happened but at this point we are not going to go into the details of the notice that we got, simply because we are going to do what we have to do to fight this.
"The B sample is being tested today."
