Midnight Mania! Daniel Cormier responds to Jon Jones’ drug test failure - ‘It's very emotional’

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

“Such a beautiful moment. Man, I did a lot of right things to get back in this position.”

Those were Jon Jones’ first words on the mic after his UFC 214 win over Daniel Cormier. Now, they echo back hollow and empty, with the results coming back today that Jones tested positive for the steroid turinabol the day before the fight. The person hurt — and at the same time vindicated most of all by the revelation — is probably the man Jones left twitching on the canvas that night, his great rival, Daniel Cormier. In an official statement to MMAFighting.com, Cormier showed the classiness even Jones ascribes to him.

“It's hard to find words to describe how I'm feeling right now. I'm disappointed to hear the news. It's very emotional. We as athletes are entitled to due process, and I will refrain from saying much more until I know exactly what happened. In my mind, on July 29, I competed and I lost. I thought Jon Jones was the better man that day. I don't know what to think anymore. I can’t believe we are going through all of this again. We will see what happens next. Thank you to all my fans who have supported me during this dark time. I love you all very much.”

Cormier had suspected, and accused, Jones of steroid use before their second bout. His theory was that Jones had quit using steroids before the bout with Ovince St. Preux, where he looked underwhelming, didn’t like the results, then cycled back on before his first drug test failure just ahead of UFC 200. That theory looks a lot more credible after this second failure. Read Iain Kidd’s explanation of exactly what Turinabol is and does for more information. It’s the same substance Jones’ teammate Frank Mir popped positive for a couple years ago.

Jones’ team is contending that the failure doesn’t make sense, given that it happened the day before his fight, with all his other tests coming back clean. Frank Lester is an MMA striking coach at Jackson/Winklejohn, Jones’ home gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is claiming someone is out to frame Jones.

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Insomnia

Nate Diaz’s opinion -- “You’re all on steroids!”

Matt Hamill with the fiery take ...

This is a cool logo!

Chiesa is bashing the steroid Jones was busted for -- at least be on the good stuff!

They are on the same stuff so why not?

When will someone Break Bad all the way? Jones lives in Albuquerque. It should be him.

This made me smile on the inside:

The joke that is evergreen:

Malignaggi won’t (ever) let it go ...

Some folks in the U.K. evidently still don’t understand what mixed martial arts is.

This looks like a great sequence (too bad UFC won’t let anyone use GIFs):

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Slips, Rips and KO Clips

I missed this:

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Podcasts and Video

So ... just how much are McGregor and Mayweather getting paid for this bout?

Breaking down Mayweather vs. McGregor - “By the Numbers:”

What’s next for Conor after the Floyd fight?

Jack Slack’s primer for Mayweather vs. McGregor in three parts:

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Random Land

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