Jon Jones’ failed drugs test cost him a record UFC payday, manager claims

Jon Jones may live to regret his positive drugs test for a very long time.

The former pound-for-pound boss, who lost that honour after being pulled from the UFC 200 card, had been set for a payday which would have put some of Conor McGregor's earnings in the shade. Brock Lesnar surpassed McGregor's previous record, taking home a reported $2.5m before pay-per-view earnings, but Jones' manager claims the light-heavyweight was in line for a lot more than that.

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"You're talking about an eight-figure payday," Jones' manager Malki Kawa told The MMA Hour. "Jon is by far the highest paid guy in the UFC, and the numbers that were shown that day for everybody from Brock [Lesnar] and the way down, Jon was making more than all of that."

Jones' planned opponent, Daniel Cormier, took home $500,000 for his victory over late stand-in Anderson Silva, who made $600,000 after replacing Jones at less than a week's notice.

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Kawa described Jones' positive test as "heartbreaking," and responded to Dana White's comments that he should have "cleaned house long ago". Jones' B sample confirmed the results of the A sample, which found an as-yet-undisclosed banned substance.

"If you think that by any chance I'm going to sit here and be like, 'hey man, take this supplement,' then I'm just as stupid as the people who think that I'm an enabler," Kawa said.

Feature Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images