Dana White: Jones had 'the right to fight,' canceling Cormier fight was not an option

Fighter123

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Dana White made the following statement today about Jon Jones:

"[What] people have to understand in this situation [is that] Jon Jones was contracted to fight, and everyone thinks we can just say, ‘the fight's off, the fight's not happening.' He had the right to fight."

"[Cormier was not told about the test results, but if Jones] had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, everything would have shut down."

Your thoughts?
 
Hold to it and force the commission to test his urine. CIR tests now.
 
Well yeah if he didn't it would have been costly.
 
I'm gonna give a short insight from my own experience, because I undersatand White's stance here.

For a big show I found out a fighter left the arena after rules meeting (against the comission's rules). As I looked for him it became pretty clear he was off to take some sort of supplement/upper.

The options were to cancel the fight or play this smoke screen. Due to the competitive nature of the opponent (a friend of mine in fact) and the fact it would mess with him more to find out about his opponent potentially "on one" I decided to play smoke screen.

I stated to the commission that the missing fighter was "probably taking a nap somewhere" and that's why we couldn't find him. Meanwhile I knew he was across town at a hotel and needed to come back.

When he returned, I instructed him to state he had been sleeping under a tree outside the premesis. Given his fight was five hours away, the commission bought it and the fight occurred. My friend was finished and the fighter, clearly on another level of energy, won the fight.

Point being: This stuff happens and sometimes you make decisions as the organization "decider".
 
Yeah like Dana cares about fighters' rights. All he cares about is how much money they can make him. Not letting Jones/Cormier happen would have cost the UFC a lot of money.
 
Yeah like Dana cares about fighters' rights. All he cares about is how much money they can make him. Not letting Jones/Cormier happen would have cost the UFC a lot of money.

This of course.
 
I'm 100% sure that this is bullshit cause Dana said it.

That and we've seen fights cancelled last minute when someone gets pulled to fight someone else.

What happened to Soto's opponent? Didn't he have the right to fight?

Also wouldn't the personal conduct policy allow them to pull Jones. Surely had there been video of him doing coke there was no way he would have fought last saturday.

The real answer is he fought because the UFC would have lost alot of potential money that could have been earned had he fought.
 
I'm gonna give a short insight from my own experience, because I undersatand White's stance here.

For a big show I found out a fighter left the arena after rules meeting (against the comission's rules). As I looked for him it became pretty clear he was off to take some sort of supplement/upper.

The options were to cancel the fight or play this smoke screen. Due to the competitive nature of the opponent (a friend of mine in fact) and the fact it would mess with him more to find out about his opponent potentially "on one" I decided to play smoke screen.

I stated to the commission that the missing fighter was "probably taking a nap somewhere" and that's why we couldn't find him. Meanwhile I knew he was across town at a hotel and needed to come back.

When he returned, I instructed him to state he had been sleeping under a tree outside the premesis. Given his fight was five hours away, the commission bought it and the fight occurred. My friend was finished and the fighter, clearly on another level of energy, won the fight.

Point being: This stuff happens and sometimes you make decisions as the organization "decider".

Do you have any proof the guy was actually off juicing somewhere or are you just assuming that? Also, did your friend ever find out that you knew what his opponent was doing but kept it quiet to keep the show running?
 
Technically, no, they didn't have the right to cancel the fight. However, they did have the ability to release the test results as soon as they got them, instead of sit on them until just a few days after the fight. The information was specifically withheld to endure the fight went on as planned. If the UFC released the results as soon as they had found out he failed, the ensuing media shitstorm would've caused Jones to check himself into rehab as a PR move (just like he's doing now)
 
Do you have any proof the guy was actually off juicing somewhere or are you just assuming that? Also, did your friend ever find out that you knew what his opponent was doing but kept it quiet to keep the show running?

To the former, I'd rather not speak to how I came to the conclusion. It was not hard to come to the conclusion for anyone that is around fighters often. To what it was he may have taken, I cannot know for sure.

To the latter, I chose not to tell him prior, as it would affect his mentality leading into the fight. Because I know him well, I also know he'd rather not know. I informed him after the show a couple weeks later. He said I made the right call (He's a warrior so it was an easy call from that perspective).
 
Cormier had the right to know he was stepping into the cage with a cokehead.
 
Dana always starts off with a sentence. "Listen...." or "Look...." "What people....." Throws in a couple "you fucken dummy"
 
I have no problem with the fight going on. Which fan wanted that fight to be canceled?

I just hope the UFC gets to the bottom of Jones' funky tests. I wish I could say I trusted them to do that.
 
Do you have any proof the guy was actually off juicing somewhere or are you just assuming that? Also, did your friend ever find out that you knew what his opponent was doing but kept it quiet to keep the show running?
Yeah, actually the proof is in the pudding! The first urine tests came out very suspicious because the testosterone levels were very low in ratio to the E levels, which means he took a masking agent. If not, then Jones should be on wheels with that level of low T! So the second test came better because the agent went to work to close the gap between both the T and the E levels. You should read about it.
 
Dana always starts off with a sentence. "Listen...." or "Look...." "What people....." Throws in a couple "you fucken dummy"

He also likes to start a sentence with a few, "See, here's the thing.." or "The thing about <instert fighter name>"
 
Struggling drug addict overcomes low testosterone to beat an undefeated former Olympic vet and maintain his world championship.

How can you guys not see Jones as a HERO!
 
To the former, I'd rather not speak to how I came to the conclusion. It was not hard to come to the conclusion for anyone that is around fighters often. To what it was he may have taken, I cannot know for sure.

To the latter, I chose not to tell him prior, as it would affect his mentality leading into the fight. Because I know him well, I also know he'd rather not know. I informed him after the show a couple weeks later. He said I made the right call (He's a warrior so it was an easy call from that perspective).

Did someone blow caffeine up his ass and tell him it was sunshine?
 
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