An emotional Jon Jones held a press conference, some 12 hours after it was announced that he was pulled from the UFC 200 fight with Daniel Cormier, following a failed PED test. Jones apologized to all, and denied knowingly taking banned PEDs. He also declined to name the PED that was flagged. 

“I want to first start by apologizing to all of the fans who came out and supported me for UFC 200, and obviously the UFC and the Fertittas for not being able to perform,” said Jones, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti  for MMA Fighting. “I know they spent a lot to promote this event. Daniel Cormier, I want to apologize to Daniel Cormier. I know that this fight means a lot to him. The fight means a lot to me and the fight is not happening. So I just want to apologize everyone sincerely.”

“I’ve been taking the same supplements for the majority of my career and I’ve been so outspoken about being against any type of performance enhancers. I’m still to the day against performance enhancers. And so the one thing that sucks, being labeled as someone who cheats, it hurts me more than anything else I’ve ever been through in my career.”

“I just want to tell [Daniel Cormier] I’m sorry,” said Jones through tears. “I know this fight meant a lot to him.”

Jones also emphatically denied knowingly taking PEDs.

I told [UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta] I would never cheat, said Jones, tears streaming down his face. I pride myself in my work ethic, and just apologized to him for the whole thing happening.

If I do have to sit out for two years, I’ll definitely back. I’m just optimistic, man. At the end of the day, I’m a fighter, and even though I may seem broken up here, I’m not broken. I’m just really upset.

Jones’s long time manager Malki Kawa initially responded to the news with a blanket denial.

Don't even bro. Not even close "@UnderwoodSports: Whoa whoa whoa…..Bones Jones doping?!"

— malki kawa (@malkikawa) July 7, 2016

At the press conference, said Jones tested positive for a metabolite of a banned substance, but declined to name it. He noted Jones has been tested eight times since this past December, and very emphatically denied Jones knowingly took a banned substance.

Kawa was asked if the source of the failed test could be a tainted supplement.

Without saying too much more, I feel like by the time this is all said and done, it will be all right, said Kawa said. It could be [a tainted supplement]. I don’t want to say much more than that because I want to go through all the reasonable steps. But it could be.

Kawa also said a B-sample test had been requested, but was not overly optimistic that it would have a different finding.

H/T The Fight Geek