In an exclusive interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Jon Jones opened up the controversy surrounding UFC 152.
“Vitor Belfort was on steroids when I fought him,” Jones said during a stroll through Albuquerque with Helwani (45:10 mins). The UFC was very well aware, way before the fight. They did nothing to penalize him. They let the fight go on knowing that I was fighting a guy on steroids, which is a hazard to my life. What do you do?”
In an investigative piece for Deadspin, Josh Gross uncovered documents detailing a “sketchy” drug test from Belfort before his fight with Jon Jones. While the UFC and Belfort offered minimal information about the situation, Jones had plenty to say about the controversy.
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“At his age and where he’s at in his career, I remember at the weigh ins I looked at his abs, and I’m like, dude I’m several years younger than you and you look way tighter than me. And I knew I trained pretty hard for that camp.”
Jones also talked about how he plans to handle the situation with the UFC, as well as legal action against the Nevada Athletic Commission for testing him for cocaine back in 2014.
“I haven’t brought it up to them yet, but the fans know. The power of the UFC and this Athletic Commission, eventually something needs to be done about it. To know that they put me in there with him, knowing that he was on something, it’s really a slap to the face.”
Jones and the UFC had a strained relationship after his refusal to fight Chael Sonnen on a week’s notice, which resulted in the cancellation of UFC 151.
“I would like to be more of a company guy and do things right, but at the same time, I’ve been bent over quite a few times by them. It’s just like…it’s hard to see where I stand man. I just hope the fans are aware of some of the shenanigans they pull.”
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