Cain Velasquez is normally one of the most mild-mannered interviews in the fight game, but the former UFC heavyweight champion didn’t hold back his frustration once the topic of Jon Jones arose on Monday.
Asked for his thoughts on Jones knocking out Velasquez’s teammate, UFC light heavyweight champion and American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) captain Daniel Cormier, with a third-round head kick at UFC 214 while competing with the anabolic steroid Turinabol in his system, Velasquez didn’t mince his words, calling Jones’ actions “f*cking bullsh*t” and decrying Jones’ performance-enhancing drug use.
“It all comes down to people being dirty,” Velasquez told reporters in a media scrum in Seoul, South Korea (via MMA Today). “Like, our gym, me, Daniel, we don’t need extra substances to make us better. We do it by working hard. We’ve done this since we were kids. We learned how to train, and train right, and go out there and be competitive. So, if you bring steroids or just some kind of performance-enhancing drug into it — if it’s not allowed, it’s not allowed. We want everybody to be on the same page, so for him to do that, for Jon Jones to do that, that’s bullsh*t. That’s f*cking bullsh*t. Why?
“Did you not want to lose to Daniel? Is that what it was? Why?”
Jones, 30, tested positive for the anabolic steroid Turinabol in an in-competition drug test administered on July 28, the day before UFC 214. The positive result brought further scandal upon the already embattled UFC star mere weeks after Jones seemingly re-righted his career with a vicious third-round knockout of Cormier. That win has since been overturned into a no-contest.
Jones previously tested positive for two banned substances, clomiphene and letrozol, prior to a planned rematch against Cormier at UFC 200. Jones served a maximum one-year suspension for that failed test, which USADA found to be the result of a tainted sexual performance enhancement pill. Now, as a multiple-time offender, Jones faces a four-year suspension from USADA for his failed UFC 214 drug test.
Jones’ team is currently investigating the matter with USADA. His team has suggested that the former UFC light heavyweight champion ingested Turinabol unknowingly, potentially via a tainted supplement — although if Velasquez’s reaction is any indication, Cormier’s teammates at AKA are still far from okay with the way the situation played out at UFC 214.
“We want everybody on the same playing field,” Velasquez said. “When we go out there, we want it to be even as far as that goes, and having it come down to training, preparation, and being able to fight. The guy that goes out there and shines on that day is the guy who’s going to win, and it’s generally from working hard and being prepared — and not from anything else.”
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