UFC 244 controversy: 5 other major UFC fights that were put into jeopardy by drug tests

#3 UFC 200: Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier

Jon Jones' rematch with Daniel Cormier was called off on late notice when Jones failed a drug test

The main event of UFC 200 was always fraught; the promotion initially announced the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz would headline the event, but when McGregor refused to go along with the UFC’s pre-event media obligations, the Irishman was pulled from the card. With that big fight gone, the UFC pulled out another rabbit from their hat – booking a rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier in the main event, with the UFC Light Heavyweight title on the line.

Three days before the event, though, everything went wrong once again. The UFC announced that Jones had been pulled out by USADA due to a potential anti-doping violation stemming from a pre-fight drug test taken a month prior to the event. Jones denied the violation and at one point it appeared that he could be cleared, but when his ‘B’ sample tested positive for the same substance, the fight was scrapped entirely.

With that, former UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva stepped in to fight Cormier in a non-title fight on just two days' notice, while the UFC Women’s Bantamweight title fight between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes was elevated into the main event slot.

It wasn’t the end of the controversy, though; days after the event it was announced that Brock Lesnar – who fought Mark Hunt on the undercard – had also tested positive for a banned substance in a pre-fight drug test taken just 12 days after the positive test that Jones had submitted. Quite why Lesnar was allowed to fight while Jones wasn’t, remains somewhat of a mystery today.