a blog by La Kifo Dana White held a late press conference to announce the change of the main card of UFC 200. Brock Lesnar v. Mark Hunt, will be the main event at UFC 200. Jon Jones was taken off the card due to a possible doping violation found in a out of competition sample he provided to USADA. This is extremely disappointing news for any and all UFC fans. Dana White held a press conference late last night to announce the change to the fight card of UFC 200. During that press conference White proclaimed that Jones could get a 2 year suspension for this violation if it turns out to be a legitimate violation. Jones was once heralded as the next big star of the UFC before incidents involving drugs and law enforcement derailed his career. If this violation does turn out to be legit, Jones will possibly have to miss 2 and half years due to suspension. At the very minimum he will have gone a little over 3 years without stepping inside the octagon.
Let's back up and get some facts. Jones was tested on June 16th, by USADA, US Anti-Doping Agency, who handles the UFC's testing of athletes. The sample provided to USADA has raised a possible red flag, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, UFC, and Jones were subsequently notified of this possible violation last night. During the press conference, UFC President Dana White stated that Jones still has an opportunity to prove himself innocent. Based on my understanding of the agencies testing process, Jones's B sample will be tested. If the B sample comes back positive, then the violation is confirmed legitimate and Jones will have to face sanctions, i.e. suspension. The B sample has not been tested yet, because the athlete is awarded the right to witness the testing of their B sample through either their own eyes or the eyes of a representative. Since all parties, including Jones, were made aware of the possible violation last night, the B sample testing will have to occur sometime in the future. Whether that is tomorrow or 2 months from now, I have no fucking clue. What I do know, this could not be anymore disappointing. This is the 4th time the UFC has booked this fight for an pay per view event. Up to this point Cormier and Jones, have fought each other once. When asked a question on that particular topic and whether they would try a fifth time to organize a fight between the two said I don't know. They probably will at least try even if Jones is found "guilty". Cormier, Jones has been the best rivalry in the UFC, or at least the most high profile, personally I liked Urijah Faber, Dominick Cruz. That rivarly just ended as Faber is old and should seriously contemplate retirement. Faber has never been a UFC champion and will never be. The Bantam weight Champion Cruz is just better than Faber, he can't go up in weight or he'd get smoked, and I would even doubt his ability to compete at the top of the flyweight division. All we had left was Jones, Cormier. Now, we may never see the two fight a second time. Cormier is getting up there in age, he is closer to 40 than 30 at this point, 37. I seriously doubt he will able to sustain his current career trajectory past the age of 40. That gives him 3 maybe even 2 years of prime fighting talent left, if White is right and Jones gets suspended 2 years, then the fight turns into declining Daniel Cormier v. Jon Jones who will be rustier than the chains of Strikeforce octagons. I don't wanna watch that, I wanted to watch Jon Jones near the prime of his career v. Daniel Cormier at the very peak of his. Which was UFC 200, not three days away from now. Instead our main event will be 3 rounds of Brock Lesnar v. Mark Hunt. I like Brock Lesnar, and Mark Hunt has some serious punching power, but fuck I really doubt this will be a good fight. We have essentially no clue what Lesnar will look like in the octagon on Saturday. His last fight was almost 5 years ago. Also, the thing we do know about Lesnar as a fighter is he has a glaring weakness which happens to be Mark Hunts glimmering strength, Boxing. If you make Lesnar stand up and trade punches, he will 9 times out of 10 lose. I can't speak for his acumen in boxing now, but I can't imagine it getting any better. For someone who is a technician on their feet like Hunt, he should have no problem landing blows if he has good take down defense. It just so happens, that Hunt recently has shown an increased proficiency in that category. I don't want to break down this fight too much, because I will in a preview and possible live blog, later in the week. My general point is, this could be a very quick fight as opposed to the Jones v. Cormier bout which you could almost guarantee would see at minimum three rounds. Throw into the mix, the main event is featuring some dude who hasn't fought in nearly 5 years. It just sucks, really really sucks. Will I still watch UFC 200? Yes Should I still watch UFC 200? Yes Will you be happy about watching UFC 200? Yes Will I be happy about watching UFC 200? I don't fucking know, I don't know you, you a stranger and stop asking me these questions. Comments are closed.
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