Jon Jones Stripped of UFC Championship

Jon Jones is stripped of a light heavyweight title again.

The 29-year old Jones has been forced to vacate the interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship by the company. Jones won the championship at UFC 197 in April when he defeated Ovince Saint Preux to become champion. Jones was originally set to face Daniel Cormier for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, but Cormier was sidelined with an injury.

"It doesn't make sense," White told ESPN. "He was the interim champion because he should have been fighting for the title (At UFC 197). We gave him this, 'You were supposed to fight for the title. Here it is. It doesn't make sense with all the stuff that is going on for him to still be the interim champion."

Jones being stripped stems from a June out-of-competition drug test that he failed for clomiphene. While he was cleared of any malice or intentional wrongdoing, the United States Anti-Doping Agency suspended Jones for one year (retroactive to July) for ingesting a pill tainted with the substance. 

The supplement in question was manufactured under the name "All American Peptide," under standards that the arbiters stated were much less rigorous than WADA standards. The panel also recommended not giving Jones the six-month reduced sentences that Yoel Romero and Tim Means received, as they both proved their tainted supplements didn't have the drug listed on their packaging. However, Jones was specifically mentioned in arbiter documents as 'not being a drug cheat.'

Jones was stripped of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in  2015 after his involvement in a hit-and-run accident. 

Jones will be eligible to return to the cage in July 2017, but has a December grappling match planned against Dan Henderson.