Jon Jones has been stripped of the Light Heavyweight Championship and officially removed from the UFC rankings. The announcement, via UFC President Dana White, comes just days after Jones was handed a 1-year suspension due to his failed drug test prior to UFC 200.
Dana White appeared on ESPN recently and stated he is not certain the UFC will ever be confident enough in Jones to promote a PPV featuring him in the main event.
“I’m starting to become not optimistic about what’s next for Jon Jones”, White stated.
“I don’t know that I have the confidence in him to headline an event with him again”
Jon Jones Stripped of Title for Second Time
This is the second time in two years Jones, 29, has been stripped of the light heavyweight championship, the first coming after his hit-and-run incident in April of 2015.
Jones is now the 4th fighter in UFC history to lose a championship due to failing a drug test, joining Josh Barnett, Tim Sylvia and Sean Sherk.
Dana White appeared on the “5IVE Rounds” podcast recently and explained the decision to strip Jones of the interim title,
“He was the interim champion because he should have been fighting for the title [at UFC 197]. We gave him this, ‘You were supposed to fight for the title. Here it is.'”
Jones was scheduled to face Daniel Cormier for the Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 197 but Cormier was forced to pull out of the fight with a foot injury. Jones went on to defeat Ovince St. Preux that night for the interim belt.
