Alexander Gustafsson stole the show at the UFC 232 weigh-in on Friday by wearing a white shirt with the word ‘DOPING’ emblazoned across it, to mock his next opponent Jon Jones.
Jones, 31, has been embroiled in legal trouble ahead of this weekend’s event after he was refused a licence to fight by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) because of an abnormal doping test result.
As a result, the UFC decided to move their entire pay-per-view show from Nevada to California on six days’ notice to ensure the UFC 232 event would go ahead.
Unsurprisingly, that did not please Swedish fighter Gustafsson, who has shot down Jones’ protracted explanation that his adverse test result was because of his past use of steroids, and not a fresh intake.
At the weigh-in, Gustafsson said: “You put illegal stuff in your body, but it won't help you this time. I'm ready to end this. I've learned how to dig deeper.”
Jones is due to return from a 15-month ban this weekend against Gustafsson in the UFC’s year-ending show at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. But a statement from the UFC late last week revealed that the NASC has refused to grant Jones permission to fight due to a “very, very small amount” of a prohibited chlorine-substituted anabolic steroid being found in his system from a drugs test on 9 December.
It is the same substance that was found in a sample taken on 29 July 2017 that led to the 15-month ban and his victory over Daniel Cormier being ruled a no contest.
However, the UFC stressed that this sample is “not a violation” and that the fight will still go ahead – 270 miles away at The Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles.
“This is the residual effect from the July 2017 test. This is not another positive test,” said Jeff Novitzky, vice-president of athlete health and performance for UFC, who added that the dosage of the metabolite found in Jones’ system was like “a grain of salt split into 50 million pieces”.
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