JON Jones says he has apologized to fighters on the UFC 232 card after the venue change following his positive drug test.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion failed another drug test and was denied a fight license in Nevada, forcing the Ultimate Fighting Championship to move the event to The Forum in Inglewood, California.
“I feel good. I really can’t afford to feel any other way. I feel bad for the fans. I went around today apologizing to every UFC fighter that was on the card that I’ve seen in person,” Jones told John Morgan of MMA Junkie.
“So far, they’ve all said that they’ve forgiven me, and I think I need to prioritize my emotions and save all the emotions for after the fight. After the fight, I definitely plan on doing what I can do to give back to fans who really lost out.”
“Honestly, my initial reaction was ‘not again. It felt like a nightmare, but honestly, I think my faith in God has really, really helped me out with this situation, just believing that, ‘Hey, listen, this is all what my story is going to be. Just be with me, God, through it all, and keep me strong to handle all this.’ Some things are out of my control, and you’ve just got to learn to focus on what you can control.”
Jones, who is fighting Alex Gustafsson, did not mention who he has spoken with, but among those on Saturday’s fight card (Sunday, Manila time) are women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino and Amanda Nunez, welterweights Carlos Condit and Michael Ciesa, and light heavyweight Ilir Latifi and Corey Anderson.
Justino earlier cried foul, saying UFC never called them up about the venue change and instead learned about it from media.
“This is crazy. They’re supposed to contact everybody. We’re partners. We’re partners. We can’t partner together … and they don’t contact you before,” Cyborg said on mmafighing.com.
“But I was in touch with my manager and he didn’t know, too. He was buying gifts for his family. Nobody knows. Just really don’t like. How can you call media and not call your fighters? For you to prepare yourself before and handle things before. How long do they know this?”
https://mmajunkie.com/2018/12/jon-jones-apologizing-to-ufc-232-fighters-now-prioritizing-own-emotions
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