Jon Jones has been officially stripped of the light-heavyweight title after a ‘b’ sample taken by USADA confirmed their original findings that he had tested positive for the banned steroid Turinabol prior to UFC 214, and that’s good new for Daniel Cormier.
The UFC confirmed last night that Cormier will now be reinstated as the 205lb champion with immediate effect, despite the fact that Jones KO’d him with a head kick and follow-up strikes at the event back in July.
“UFC was informed Wednesday that the result of the UFC 214 bout between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier on July 29 was overturned by the California State Athletic Commission. The ruling changes the Jones ‘win’ to a ‘no contest’ following a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an in-competition sample collected after Jones’ weigh-in on July 28, 2017,” an official UFC statement reads.
“As this was a title bout, Cormier will be reinstated as UFC light heavyweight champion.”
On the ‘UFC Tonight’ show, Cormier explained what UFC President Dana White had told him about their decision to give him back the belt.
“Dana White called me today and he said if it’s a no contest, then the fight didn’t happen,” Cormier said. “If one of you guys would have missed weight, he would have won the fight, you still would have kept the belt. He said cause of that, the championship is getting returned to you. The fight is a no contest.
“If he cheated, he could not have fought and cheated and still won the fight. So once again I’m the UFC champion.”
It’s an odd situation for Cormier to be in, having twice claimed the title as a result of Jones’ transgressions, but nonetheless he appears to be grateful for the opportunity.
“People will stay stuff like you got handed the belt,” Cormier said. “He cheated and the reality is for me to say I don’t want this when I was going to be in the championship fight anyways, financially it’s just a big difference if I don’t fight as the champion as opposed to fighting for a vacant belt.”
