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UFC Star Under Fire for Shutting Up Journo Over Positive Drug Test Question

© AP Photo / Julio CortezJon Jones, left, pushes Alexander Gustafsson out of the way during a news conference about their light heavyweight bout, Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two will fight in UFC 232, which is scheduled for Dec. 29, 2018, in Las Vegas.
Jon Jones, left, pushes Alexander Gustafsson out of the way during a news conference about their light heavyweight bout, Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two will fight in UFC 232, which is scheduled for Dec. 29, 2018, in Las Vegas. - Sputnik International
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American light heavyweight Jon Jones is set to fight Swede Alexander Gustaffson despite testing positive for a small amount of a prohibited anabolic steroid earlier in December. Apart from a ritual stand-off between the two fighters, their pre-fight presser of the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been marked by a showdown of another kind.

During the UFC 232 pre-fight presser, US fighter Jon Jones shunned Swedish reporter Izabelle Kostic, who asked him why he had tested positive after a drug probe on 9 December, simply responding “Next question, thank you.”

She didn’t leave it like this and immediately confronted UFC president Dana White, demanding an explanation why another UFC athlete Frank Mir was suspended for two years for the same incident in 2017. While the official lingered with an answer, saying he did not quite understand the question, Jones interfered and took the mic, scolding the journalist.

READ MORE: 'King is Back': UFC Fans Abuzz as McGregor Throws Out Teaser of 2019 Comeback

“Sit down. Take the mic from her, better questions, better journalism. Is there a real journalist? Better journalism, you suck… who are you, where did you come from?” he berated the woman until he was interrupted by White trying to do damage control.

While the journalist was reportedly booed by Jones’s fans, many netizens shamed the fighter on social media for his disrespectful behaviour and criticised the UFC.

​Some went as far as to comparing the fighter to Donald Trump

​Another commentator mocked the Championship’s damage control.

​The UFC fighter claimed that the question “shouldn’t have even been brought up” and complained about being “wronged” himself, the Independent reports.

“It’s such a small amount that it has no effect. I think the professionals whether it’s Usada (United States Anti-Doping Agency) or the UFC are realising, ‘Jon is kind of like a guinea pig in this situation.’ I was almost wronged in this situation. Even though (the substance) was in me, I think this is a way of fixing a wrong and making it right again by not cancelling this fight”, he said, pointing out that although “a lot of fans got hurt in this situation, we saved the event”.

“Changing the event instead of cancelling the event is the way of making this right”, he stated.

Ex-champion Jon Jones and former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson are to fight for the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion title in Inglewood, California. It was originally supposed to take place in Nevada, but was moved as Jones’s testing showed “abnormality” — a trace amount of anabolic steroid – and the California State Athletic Commission agreed to grant him a license. It was the same substance, found in his system in 2017, when he was banned for 15 months.

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