When Jon Jones recreated his new superstar speech, the humble, funny, super talented guy who reached the top and was expected to start a dynasty, the one thing clear was that, in time, the truth, whatever it was, would likely come out.

The fact is the spotlight would be on Jones, and after telling people he’s older and more mature, a fall from grace would label him as a phony. This time it would be difficult, not impossible, but difficult for time to heal that wound.

As it turned out, Jones failed a drug test taken on 7/28 in Anaheim, after weigh-ins the day before his fight where he won the UFC light heavyweight title back from Daniel Cormier. Jones had never lost the championship since winning it on March 19, 2011, from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in Newark, NJ, but was stripped of the title in 2015 when he got into legal trouble after a hit-and-run incident involving an accident with a pregnant woman in the other car, and him leaving the scene.

TMZ reported the drug in question was Turibanol, an anabolic steroid best known in the 70s as the steroid first made in East Germany, that its countries athletes were using to avoid detection in drug tests. Turibanol is considered a black market steroid, in that major pharmaceutical companies don’t make it, used mainly in sports with weight classes in conjunction with making weight. Its most beneficial quality is that it allows an athlete to maintain strength level while losing weight. The detection time for the drug is six weeks, but those vary by the individual. But in this case, if he was using the drug, it would make no sense to have used it more than six weeks earlier to begin with since it would be something you would use during the period you are dropping weight.

It is Jones’ second drug test failure. He tested positive in June of 2016 for Clomiphene and Letrozole, two agents usually used to get the body back producing testosterone and to avoid side effects of the use of testosterone at the end of a steroid cycle. Jones claimed he unknowingly had those drugs in his system, and was able to provide to USADA some sexual performance substances he was taking which did contain both banned substances. He was suspended for one year, with the suspension ending shortly before the recent Cormier fight.

He had also tested positive for cocaine in 2015, and later bragged that he beat Cormier the first time one week after spending a weekend doing cocaine. However, cocaine is not banned by USADA except in competition, so he could not be suspended for that failed test.

The difference is that having a performance enhancing drug in his system for a first offense is a two year suspension. For a second drug test offense, with this being a steroid, he could get as much as a four year suspension.

Jones is provisionally suspended pending going through the usual due process. Until USADA and the California State Athletic Commission make their ruling about the drug test, the result of the fight would not be changed and thus, the championship should not be stripped. But even if he had no knowledge and was the victim of a contaminated supplement, or unless the test itself was inaccurate, you should not be allowed to win a fight, let alone a championship, with steroids in your system.

“The California State Athletic Commission has been made aware of Jon Jones’ test results and is looking into the matter,” said commission executive officer Andy Foster. “The Commission takes those matters very seriously and will take any appropriate actions necessary after a thorough review of the situation. As with all fighters, Mr. Jones is entitled to due process and the Commission will work with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to get all of the proper information.”

Malki Kawa, Jones’ manager, provided a statement saying, “We are all at a complete loss for words right now. Jon, his trainers, his nutritionists and his entire camp have worked tirelessly and meticulously the past 12 months t avoid this exact situation. We are having the samples tested again to determine the validity or source of contamination. Jon is crushed by this news and we are doing whatever we can as a team, to support him.”

While Jones was not stripped of the championship because they have to let due process play out, it is hard to envision a situation where that wouldn’t happen unless the test results themselves were faulty.

Even if somehow Jones used a contaminated supplement, the reality is he had steroids in his system at the time of his fight. There is no way the result of Jones winning could be upheld, and there is no logical reason Cormier should be able to lose the championship. The decision of the fight would have to be overturned.

Dana White seemed to agree with that.

“As far as I’m concerned, Cormier would be the champion (if Jones is suspended). The only guy he’s ever lost to in his whole career is Jon Jones. He was the champ. He’s the champion if Jones isn’t.”

White questioned if the suspension is lengthy, if Jones would ever fight again. White said the promotion was looking at booking a Stipe Miocic vs. Jones main event for the 12/2 show in Detroit, ironically a fight that Jones very specifically said he wasn’t interested in and while usually confident, made it clear he didn’t know if he could handle Miocic’s greater size and knockout power.

UFC had gone heavy into the Jones promotion. In this week’s issue of Sports Business Journal, there was a full back of the page ad with Jones, noting he was in the No. 1 grossing UFC PPV this year (granted, there has been little competition for that spot), drew UFC’s biggest ever gate at the Honda Center, and that the episodes of UFC Embedded leading up to the fight did more than five million viewers and the fight had 8.3 billion social media impressions.

One would expect Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson, or possibly vs/ Volkan Oezdemir, as the logical next fight if and when Jones is stripped of the title.

In addition, this may end talk of a proposed Brock Lesnar vs. Jones fight, which many had thought would be the biggest money fight in UFC history. Lesnar had not signed for such a fight, and Lesnar himself is still suspended, but the fight was expected to happen next summer, after Lesnar’s WWE contract expired. Both had already started promoting the fight hard. It also changes the Lesnar/WWE contract negotiation dynamics. Lesnar could still go back to UFC and probably make more money than in WWE, but that is no longer a sure thing. And it’s less likely he could make so much more in one night that it would make the most sense to leave WWE for a while.

With a two-year suspension, Jones would not be able to fight again in UFC until the summer of 2019, at which time Lesnar would be 42, lowering the odds of such a fight happening. And a longer suspension would only make things even more unlikely.

Without the Jones fight, Lesnar would have no fight anywhere near as marketable. That would greatly lessen the amount he could earn going back to UFC, and would increase the odds of him staying with WWE, either with a new deal, or exercising the option of the current deal, which expires in April.

It also kills the Jones redemption story that had been promoted and that he had done such a good job with, both before the fight, and even more so after winning the Cormier fight. It’s going to be exceedingly difficult for the public to have sympathy for Jones, of all people, given his talent, resorting to using steroids at the age of 30 with all of his past transgressions. And even if it was a tainted supplement, it would still be hard to have sympathy given, after all he’s been through, that he should have been more careful.

In many ways, this is the biggest MMA story of the year, because of the ramifications in so many directions. Whether it was deliberate or unknowing, he took away Cormier’s fair chances of changing a lifetime narrative about winning major championships in both wrestling and MMA, but never beating the accepted No. 1 guy at the top of either sport.

“It’s hard to find words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” Cormier said to MMAFighting.com shortly after hearing the news. “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 that 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.”

Jones also put an asterisk on all of his career accomplishments including a legacy of being the greatest fighter of all-time. There are numerous records he could have set that, with a lengthy suspension, he won’t have time to set. Financially, it’s possible he’s cost himself tens of millions of dollars. He’s also greatly hurt the UFC, and a redeemed Jon Jones would be expected to be a major drawing card for many years and if Conor McGregor doesn’t come back, Jones was the company’s most valuable star. The entire light heavyweight division will remain a shadow. The reality is that Cormier, as champion, has been seen twice losing to Jones and, completely unfair to him at this point, he’ll never be truly accepted as a world champion, and if anyone else gets the title, without beating Jones, they’ll be seem the same way Cormier has been the past two years.

There are also questions regarding Jones’ future, given that if his suspension is three or four years, he really can’t sit and do nothing. He would be under contract to UFC, but UFC can’t really hold him to that contract for that many years, although Tom Lawlor was held to his contract for two years for his PED positive and UFC would not release him.

If Jones was released, while he couldn’t fight in the U.S., Canada or Brazil because those countries recognize suspensions, he would be free to fight in places like Europe, Russia or Japan, although he’d be fighting for substantially less money than he’s been used to. Is it possible Lesnar vs. Jones could take place in those countries next year? Yes, legally. But it won’t happen. Lesnar vs. Jones without the UFC’s backing won’t do business on PPV to make it worth Lesnar’s while to return and there would be a question of whether Jones would get a UFC release to allow him to fight overseas, or even want to do so and make enemies out of UFC and athletic commissions by defying his suspension when the paydays, while there, would be nothing close to what he’d make when he returned to UFC. As far as them doing a worked match at WrestleMania, the WWE already has its main event plans for Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns back on, and while plans are made to be changed, I’m not sure the value of Jones coming in, not really knowing what he’s doing, and his willingness to lose a pro wrestling match to Lesnar, which is the only result possible for WWE unless they do an even-Steven thing to set up two matches. And then comes the trust question, as would they trust things to end up the way they are supposed to?

As far as Bellator goes, which has the money, it would be such a bad look for the promotion to sign Jones and only have him fight in non-athletic commission countries and I don’t think that’s a decision they would make. Anything is possible, but it would put them at odds with every athletic commission to be playing those kind of games and risk commissions not licensing them. It’s not a hill worth dying on.

There are promotions in Russia and Poland that do pay well. Another option would be WWE, although there’s a question regarding WWE embracing someone under athletic commission suspension for steroids. They did continue to use Brock Lesnar after his failed test, due to contract provisions where they had to, but also didn’t decrease his push at all, nor was Lesnar punished at all in booking. Quite the opposite in fact. But it’s different to hire someone anew, who has gotten so much bad publicity, especially when the company’s goals are to be sponsor-friendly.
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The fact that Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. are even fighting, let alone that this will likely end up being either the first or second biggest grossing event in the history of combat sports, is the ultimate example of hype over substance.

It's something that has never quite happened before, because in the past, it never made any financial sense to happen.

The circumstances are a perfect storm of things all coming into play. MMA, nor any other combat sport except for a handful of boxers in history, never had a major star who could be in a promotion of this level. And even with MMA over the past decade, they were never so dependent upon a singular star that the star would have the leverage to get permission to do something his contract would have banned. Some have thought this fight happened because McGregor threatened to become a boxer and then use the Ali Act to challenge the restrictions in his UFC contract. But more likely, this happened when UFC officials, who at first were negative on the idea, realized the kind of money this event would generate and that it would simply be stupid not to happen. Should McGregor lose, the idea was he faced the best boxer of the modern era in his first fight and he should have lost. The only risk was an embarrassing loss, but every single UFC fighter takes that risk every time they fight. Fans know that people have bad days.

Even Bob Arum said the good thing that UFC has shown is that fans will accept losses, as boxing promoters in the past had tried to protect their stars on the way up from losing with the idea a loss kills you as a draw. The success of the 2015 Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, which grossed more than $600 million, set a standard for one-day revenue for a fight that changed expectations about what was possible.

As noted before, even with the revenue split tons of different ways, UFC’s cut of this will be far more than they have ever made for any show in history. It’s the difference between this year being a disaster of a year, and a successful year. And granted, if McGregor never fights again, that would be a huge blow, particularly coming up on the contract year for television. No matter what the kind of money McGregor will make, it really becomes a question about him fighting again because he won’t have to, plus even for a fight with Georges St-Pierre or Nate Diaz, he’s making pennies compared to this fight. If by some chance McGregor wins this fight, negotiations will become far more difficult and the thing is he’d probably make more at that point facing one of the name boxers like a Canelo Alvarez more than a UFC fighter.

And what makes it so unique, is that in the one instance historically where something close to this could have happened, the discussions were always of a mixed rules fight. A straight boxing match essentially means that McGregor and the sport of MMA are doing a one-night sacrifice of themselves to the public for a giant payoff.

This is all about money. It is possible, if PPV numbers hit numbers that are being predicted, that through all sources, this fight could produce in the range of $700 million in revenue, more than UFC produced in the entire year of 2016 and nearly the total revenue of the entire WWE business in 2016.

Among the different revenue streams are $500 million in U.S. and Canadian and Internet PPV, which would be based on five million buys, $26 million to $35 million U.K. PPV buys and there is no prior baseline to even accurately predict what kind of additional PPV revenue will come from Ireland since it’s doubtful any fight in the modern era was close to as big there. Add in another$35 million in international television rights, more than $72 million in the live gate (it’s said that this show just broke the $72 million Mayweather-Pacquiao record), $28 million in sponsorships, $7 million in Las Vegas closed circuit revenue, $8 million to $16 million in revenue from it airing in 400 theaters around the country at $40-45 per head, $15 million in bars and restaurants in North America, not to mention merchandise numbers.

Based on past trends of early purchases as of 8/21, and keep in mind for events like this, early purchases are minimal, the projection is 4 million buys. Any kind of a strong publicity stunt in the waning days could change that trajectory. The feeling is that this will be, at worst, the second biggest PPV event in history.

McGregor can make $10 million or $15 million for a fight in UFC when he's matched with the right opponent. But it is inconceivable he can make $100 million. He could still earn far more money in boxing than he could in his own sport. Mayweather could earn far more money fighting a non-boxer in a boxing match, than a top boxer, and with minimal risk a far as losing.

Odds have been laid out for pay-per-view buys itself, with an over and under of 4,990,000 buys. Keep in mind that the biggest pay-per-view in history, the Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, did 4,600,000, and the second biggest, the Mayweather fight with Oscar De La Hoya did 2,450,000. And keep in mind that both of those numbers blew away all predictions ahead of time.

Because of that, there will be people who will think 4 million buys is some kind of a bust. It’s funny because when Dana White was first talking about this fight, he was talking 2.5 million as a number he was pretty sure it could do, and now after all the media hype, people will be declaring 3 million, a number only hit once in history, as a disappointment. Just because of how uncharted waters 5 million is, it’s hard to fathom that. But we do live in an era where the big fight is bigger and more lucrative than ever. While TV PPV is still the lion’s share, iPPV, which UFC has been doing with more and more success on big shows, is bigger than ever, and the fight can be ordered everywhere. Plus, on iPPV, without the split with cable providers, the promotion takes in about double the revenue. At the same time, outside of a few countries, the U.S. and Canada being notable, culturally people aren’t used to paying $100 for a fight on television. The price in the U.K., where UFC events have never aired on PPV, is far less expensive. Plus, in many key countries, iPPV will mean nothing because there are many places the fight will air on regular television.

If this show even approaches those predictions, it will change the game. In the world of combat sports promotion, when something works, it's copied. Promoters and fighters will likely acknowledge that there is only one Mayweather and one McGregor, but if there is an MMA champion who is a striker, like Stipe Miocic, who has already challenged Anthony Joshua, the idea that they could earn far more money for losing a freak show fight than they could for a championship defense is going to have a similar lure.

They won't make nearly the money this fight will. But using the boxing formula of paying big event main eventers, a top UFC fighter who can strike at a high level would have the opportunity to make more than for a UFC title defense. It would not be in UFC’s best interest to allow this. But for a company like Bellator, perhaps that wouldn't be the case, although the reality is they don’t have anyone on their roster right now in the position to do that.

Like every gimmick, it'll quickly run its course. But boxing and MMA are in a constant struggle for fights that grab the attention of the general public, and if a gimmick works, it's not like people won't try and figure a way to duplicate it.

Bob Bennett, who heads the Nevada Athletic Commission, was on the MMA Hour, defending the decision to sanction the fight and allow the eight ounce gloves (that Mayweather has fought with earlier in his career) instead of the ounces as are regulated in 154 pound fights, even though it went against a paper sent in by the Association of Ringside Physicians the day before saying that there is no reason to go against the rules and stating it would make the fight more dangerous.

Bennett said money doesn’t even enter into his decision-making, but health and safety does. His defense was that McGregor is younger, stronger, has more reach and is the harder puncher of the two, noting his 17 knockout finishes in 24 pro fights, calling him a premier striker and a knockout artist. He did say that other athletic commissioners had told him that they would not have approved the fight, but he questioned if it came across their desk that they really would have done so, saying it’s an approvable fight based on facts, not dollars.

Kickboxing was never big enough in the U.S., the prime market for giant money events, to have a fighter who could draw like McGregor against a boxer. Amateur wrestling stars never had the notoriety. Some pro wrestling stars in a different era when fans took pro wrestlers more as tough guys rather than as entertainers, had the notoriety.

Over the years there were many wrestler vs. boxer matches, some under mixed rules, and a few under boxing rules, but none ever garnered a smidgen of interest this already has.

In the early 1920s, there were negotiations to pit Ed "Strangler" Lewis, one of the two biggest pro wrestling stars of that era, against Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler, the heavyweight boxing champion. At that time, there was no bigger sports star than the heavyweight boxing champion, and while wrestling was already predetermined, it received extensive newspaper coverage and The Strangler vs. The Mauler looked like a huge promotion.

In the end, the fight never happened since Lewis wouldn't dare do a boxing match with Dempsey, and Dempsey, even though he said otherwise, knew well enough that in a mixed rules match, he'd stand little chance. The interest at the time was for a mixed rules match, and economically, it was dangerous to Dempsey and boxing and there wasn't enough of a money difference between what Dempsey could make boxing to have it make any sense.ྭ

Over the years, there were numerous boxer vs. wrestler matches, although most were in pro wrestling, and the outcomes were predetermined, as numerous boxing champions from Joe Louis to "Jersey" Joe Walcott to Leon Spinks took to pro wrestling after their boxing careers were over. Joe Frazier even did a match in Puerto Rico. In recent years, long after anyone took it seriously and it was clearly all in fun, people like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Ricky Hatton messed around on WWE shows.

In the few legitimate fights, the results were almost predetermined, in the sense the rules made the outcome obvious. Frank Gotch was in many ways the first celebrity pro wrestler, who, as world champion, was viewed as legitimate in his day, used a pseudonym, Frank Kennedy, and lost a boxing match to Frank Slavin in 1901 in The Yukon Territory. There was also the brutal 1940 bout where an aged Dempsey destroyed Cowboy Luttrell under boxing rules.

In a 1935 bout where wrestling star Ray Steele battled boxer Kingfish Levinsky in St. Louis, under mixed rules, it only lasted 35 seconds with Steele winning. While it took longer, in a 1963 mixed match, wrestler/judoka Gene LeBell defeated boxer Milo Savage. Pro wrestler Kiyoshi Tamura, who later had an MMA career that included wins over Kazushi Sakuraba, Pat Miletich, Renzo Gracie and Maurice Smith and a draw with Frank Shamrock when Shamrock was UFC champion, finished Matthew Saad Muhammad in 34 seconds in 1992.

Once MMA got established, a past-his-prime Ray Mercer lost quickly to Kimbo Slice but knocked out Tim Sylvia in nine seconds, the only high-profile case where a boxing champion defeated an MMA champion under MMA rules. Pride heavyweight Kazuyuki Fujita choked out former cruiserweight champion boxer Imamu Mayfield in 2003 with rules that limited ground work to 20 seconds, when he was able to lock in a choke while standing. And the current era UFC once pushed a boxer vs. MMA fighter theme when James Toney submitted in the first round to Randy Couture. The first UFC featured Royce Gracie quickly beating Art Jimmerson. But Mercer was long past his prime, as was Toney, and Mayfield and Jimmerson weren’t boxers anyone had heard of.

In the past, such a fight could never happen because the top star in one venue would never risk both his own reputation and that of their sport in a situation where they have little chance to win. And to be fair, none of the non-boxers involved were anywhere near the level of striker that McGregor is, nor the level of talker, and in this case, the latter is more important in this happening than the former.ྭ

The closest example from a name value and marketing standpoint of a fight that actually did happen was the 1976 fight with Muhammad Ali, at the time the world heavyweight boxing champion, and Antonio Inoki, Japan's biggest pro wrestling star.

Why that fight did happen is that Ali was offered more money for what was supposed to be a pro wrestling match, where he would lose to Inoki, than he had ever earned for a boxing match. His biggest boxing payoffs at the time were $5 million against boxing killers like Joe Frazier or George Foreman, and the Japanese promotion behind the fight offered him $6 million for what would essentially be a far less dangerous staged pro wrestling match.

But in the week before the fight, Ali suddenly decided that he didn't want to lose. Whether he felt it would tarnish his reputation by being in a fixed fight, or he didn't want to sell out his sport, or both, losing the match weighed on his conscience. The Japanese backers of Inoki were not paying Ali $6 million to beat their guy, and with so much at stake, instead of calling the fight off, which it was very much in danger of in the days before it happened, they agreed to do a real fight. Ali had all the bargaining power. So he was able to get rules greatly in his favor.

Even with Inoki banned from using submissions, kicks above the waist, Greco-Roman throws and other wrestling techniques, the lopsided rules were still not pure boxing. The fight ended up as a boring 15 round draw which mostly saw Inoki lay of his back and blister Ali with leg kicks.

At the time, the public viewed Inoki as a coward who wouldn't stand up and fight. Viewed today, with judges and a fan base who understand low kicks, Inoki would have won at least 12 of the 15 rounds. But it still would have been viewed as a horrible fight.

Keep in mind this was one of the greatest heavyweight boxers who ever lived against a pro wrestler, who while trained in submissions and Japan's biggest star, was behind the scenes never considered a legitimate top tier shooter like Billy Robinson was in that era.

Ali was also nearly involved in another freak show fight in 1971 with Wilt Chamberlain, who was the biggest name in the NBA at the time. The idea behind it was that the public would be intrigued by the size difference, as Chamberlain was 7-foot-1 and 290 pounds, and an amazing athlete. Chamberlain in 1971 was every bit the LeBron James of his era, and with a general public that was far less knowledgeable about fighting skills, the size difference and name value of the two would have made it something that would have captured the fantasies of the public.

But after a press conference that got national attention, and numerous publicity photos, the fight fell apart.

Ali was a far bigger star than either Mayweather or McGregor is today, but the economics were completely different.

Still, when Ali vs. Inoki was put together, the thought process was the fight would do big business on closed-circuit at arenas around the U.S. and Canada, because you would get both the fan bases of pro wrestling and of boxing. That's similar to the mentality of McGregor vs. Mayweather bringing together the fan bases of MMA and boxing, even though whether it does what it's projected to do depends more on drawing people who aren't big fans of either sport and people who will watch it similar to people who aren’t football fans but watch the Super Bowl.

Outside of the Northeast, where the real draw was a pro wrestling match with Bruno Sammartino against Stan Hansen at Shea Stadium, and in Japan, where it did a record gate and is still one of the highest rated television shows in the history of TV-Asahi, the fight bombed.

As big as Ali was, the public didn't buy the concept. Inoki wasn't well-known in the U.S. Ali ended up getting less than $2 million when all was said and done.

What is different today is the mentality of the fans and the changes in the media.

As big a star as Ali was, the event got some coverage, but not a lot. Most sportswriters, sportscasters and sports editors were skeptical the fight would be real, and with good reason. They didn't want to give it credibility in the event that it wasn't. And even if it was, the important thing wasn't Ali, but Ali's heavyweight championship, which wasn't at stake. Championships in those days were bigger than the stars.

Today, that's no longer the case. The coverage it did receive was more like it was a novelty, and almost all tongue in cheek. The public was told it wasn't important, and for the most part, they believed it and didn't buy it.

Today, the media has changed. It's all about personalities, not competition or championships. If the personalities can draw ratings or get hits, they'll get constant coverage. Every tweet by McGregor and Mayweather becomes a news story. The biggest differences are not just how much more money can be made via pay-per-view than the old closed-circuit, and how much more money people are willing to pay for sports events today, but that in 1976, the media led the public to what was important. Today, the public leads the media.

No matter what people in sports think of the idea of a mismatch or sports value of a fight that is all but predetermined based on the rules in place, there will be round-the-clock coverage this week leading into the fight.

McGregor, Mayweather, Dana White and all parties involved will be telling you this is the biggest fight in years. That no championship is at stake will mean little to nothing.

In the past, Zuffa did everything in its power to keep its top stars, notably Nick Diaz when he wanted to box Jeff Lacey, from going into boxing and risk looking like second rate fighters. But in this instance, unlike any other time in history, the money is so big that UFC and McGregor are willing to sacrifice the their aura to the general public because the economic windfall of the night is too great to pass up.
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Brian Stann, who co-announcer Jon Anik often referred to as “The Greatest Living American,” announced on 8/21 that he would be leaving UFC.

“I am announcing my departure from calling fights with the UFC,” wrote Stann on Instagram. “I have been offered an amazing leadership role with a fast growing Real Estate Firm and will be attending Northwestern (Kellogg) for my executive MBA this fall. Thank you to everyone for years of support, especially the athletes and coaches whom I love deeply. I will continue to be a huge MMA supporter and attend many events. Thank you to everyone from FOX and Zuffa who helped me so much in this journey.

“Jon Anik, you are my brother and that will never change, and I cannot tell you how important your friendship has been to me. My wife, Teressa Stann, who has endured so much and supported me through war, fighting and now this transition, I love forever and thank you so much. This move is to focus more on my family. I traveled 26 weekends last year for work while also working a full-time job. My new role as a COO will be very difficult, but still affords me my weekends with my wife and three children. Transition and change are a part of life and I am really excited to prove my worth to my new company and hopefully showcase the diverse skills military veterans and mixed martial artists possess. Thank you all.”

Stann, 36, was a Marine Corps captain and decorated war hero who was given a silver star in combat. He started fighting in 2006, while still in the service and left the service to become a full-time fighter who compiled a 12-6 career record. He retired after his March 3, 2013, loss to Wanderlei Silva in one of the greatest fights in UFC history and became an announcer with the promotion.

He was known for his exceptional preparation and with Joe Rogan cutting down on his schedule, Stann was being used more and more, doing more than half the UFC events. Stann was especially strong in conveying information to viewers regarding the fighters and their styles from the perspective of a fighter. He was more factual and not as colorful as some other announcers, but if you wanted to learn about the fighters while watching fights, he was the best at it and I consider his departure significant, but also felt that someday his life would take him away from UFC, and I had always anticipated he would end up running for public office. He had, at times, teased interest in doing so, when frustrated with people in top positions.

One would expect that this will lead to more announcing from Dominick Cruz, whose strength is his ability to see things developing and anticipating things in a fight. Another candidate to fill the position would be Dan Hardy, who does most of the European shows, and comes off as the friendliest to the viewer of the current group.

Stann had been the President and CEO of Hire Heroes USA, a group that helped place U.S. veterans into jobs. WWE had been a major sponsor of the group and Stann had done a few commercials for the group that appeared in recent years on WWE programming.
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UFC: Matt Hughes has recovered enough to where he was able to go on the mats and do some Jiu Jitsu rolling just two months after fighting for survival after being hit by a train while driving across train tracks.

Junior Dos Santos, who was to face Francis Ngannou in a major heavyweight fight on the next UFC PPV show on 9/9 in Edmonton, has been provisionally suspended based on the result of an out-of-competition drug test on 8/10, so that fight has been canceled. UFC hasn’t said that will happen with Ngannou, who is their most promising heavyweight on the way up. USADA never releases information on results of tests until the case is closed after fighters can give their explanation. Dos Santos’ side immediately went public, saying that he tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide, and that they don’t know where this substance could have gone from. His team said that they requested a testing of his B sample, but conceded that most likely the results would be the same. They said they are looking at his nutritional supplements and medications and are going to have USADA test the two supplements he was using to see if they were contaminated. They also noted it was a very low concentration of the drug that he tested positive for. They’ve noted that he’s never failed a test previously. Dos Santos said, “I would never cheat. It goes against everything I stand for.” He said he hoped in the near future he can face Ngannou and he can give the fans the show they expected.

Stephen Wonderboy Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal and Fabricio Werdum vs. Derrick Lewis have been added to the 10/7 PPV show in Las Vegas. At this point the main event for that show looks to be Tony Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight title. If Masvidal beats Thompson, it’ll come down to he and Robbie Lawler most likely for the next shot at welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who is out of action with a torn labrum.

Guido Cannetti and USADA have come to an agreement where he will be suspended for ten months after testing positive for multiple prohibited substances that after an investigation, USADA has found came from a contaminated supplement. Cannetti, 37, tested positive for Ostarine, Stanazolol, two different forms of Hydroxystanazolol, as well as hydrochlorothiazide (the same diuretic that Junior Dos Santos tested positive for) and chlorothiazide in an out of competition test on 10/5. Ostarine, Stanazolol and Hydroxystanazolol are banned PEDs which would normally carry a two-year suspension. The latter two are diuretics that can be used as masking agents. Cannetti was able to provide USADA with a dietary supplement he had been using, and he had declared that he was using that supplement when he was tested, which was the key. The supplement he was using listed no prohibited substances on the label, and USADA tested both an open container that he was using at the time he was notified of the test failure, as well as sealed containers he had purchased but were not open, and found evidence of everything he tested positive for. USADA has added the supplement to its High Risk list of supplements on his data base. The ten-month suspension periods started on 10/28, the date his suspension started when he tested positive, which means it will end this week.

Two fights announced this week for a 10/28 show in Sao Paulo, Brazil are Lyoto Machida in his first fight back from suspension against Derek Brunson (which will be the five-round main event on the show), and Deivesan Alcantara (12-0, 11 stoppages and eight first round) vs. Jarred Brooks (13-0) in a flyweight battle.

Yordenis Ugas will replace Shawn Porter in a boxing match with Thomas Dulorme on this week’s Mayweather-McGregor undercard. Porter pulled out due to a death in the family. Ugas captured a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics and has a 19-3 pro record with nine knockouts. This will be the FOX main event before the start of the PPV.

Nick Roehrick, a light heavyweight, was put on temporary suspension due to results of an out-of-competition drug test taken on 8/8. Roehrick has fought once in UFC, a 7/7 loss to Jarrod Cannonier that he lost in the third round.

Cannonier will be facing Antonio Rogerio Nogueira on the 12/16 FOX card from Winnipeg. That and Alessio DiChirico vs Oluwale Bamgbose were the first two fights announced for that show.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Junior Albini, Angela Hill vs. Nina Ansaroff, Court McGee vs. Sean Strickland and Marcel Fortuna vs. Jake Collier have been added to the 11/11 show in Norfolk. Albini is 14-2, on a ten fight winning streak, and made an impressive UFC debut knocking out Timothy Johnson in as prelim fight on 7/22 at the Nassau Coliseum.

Jinder Mahal said that while he would be in attendance for former Canadian Olympic wrestler Arjan Bhullar’s UFC debut on 9/9 in Edmonton, he won’t be walking him to the ring.

Andre Fili vs. Artem Lobov and Marcin Held vs. Teemu Packalen have been added to the 10/21 show in Gdansk, Poland.

Felice Herrig vs Cortney Casey was announced for a 12/2 PPV show at the new arena in Detroit.

Nick Hein pulled out of the 9/2 show in Rotterdam, Holland with an undisclosed injury. He was to face Zabit Magomedsharipov. UFC is looking for a new opponent for Magomedsharipov.

Demian Maia vs. Colby Covington, who just came off some appearances in GFW, is slated for the 10/28 show in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Also on that show is Boston Salmon (that’s his real name) vs. Augusto Mendes. Salmon got his job with an impressive win on the Tuesday Night fights on Fight Pass, where at the end of the show, Dana White announces who from the show will get a contract. Mendes is a high level Jiu Jitsu competitor but has lost to Cody Garbrandt and Aljamain Sterling, the champion and one of the top contenders in the division.

Former strawweights Joanne Calderwood and Bec Rawlings are moving up to 125 pounds and face off on 11/19 in Sydney, Australia.

Terrion Ware vs. Sean O’Malley is the first fight announced for a 12/1 show in Las Vegas, which is one day before the PPV show in Detroit. This will be a Friday night final of this season of the Ultimate Fighter, including the finals of a match to determine the first UFC women’s flyweight championship. O’Malley got a contract from the Tuesday Night show on Fight Pass after a knockout win over Alfred Khashakyan, which gave the 22-year-old fighter an 8-0 record..

BELLATOR: Ryan Bader defends his light heavyweight title against Linton Vassell on 11/3 in State College, PA at the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State University. Two former NCAA champions from Penn State, Ed Ruth and Phil Davis, will also be featured on the show.

Featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull Freire (26-4) will defend his title against Daniel Weichel (39-9) on 11/16 in Tel Aviv, Israel, where Bellator had a sold out event the first time they came in. Weichel lost to Freire two years ago but has won four straight since then. .. They have a show this week on 8/25 from Verona, NY with Andrey Koreshkov (19-2) vs. Chidi Njokuani (16-4), Fernando Gonzalez (25-14) vs. Brennan Ward (14-5), A.J. McKee (7-0) vs. Blair Tugman (9-6) and Veta Arteaga (2-1) vs. Bruna Ellen (2-1)..

OTHER MMA: Former UFC star Antonio Silva, cut after a series of losses, is now doing a fight that should never happen. Silva will face Rico Verhoeven, the Glory kickboxing world heavyweight champion and the best heavyweight kickboxer in the world. Silva has never had a kickboxing match while Verhoeven, who has a 51-10-1 record, has had 62. The bout takes place on 10/14 in Gangzhou, China. Silva, 37, is 1-8 with one no contest in his last ten MMA fights and seven of those losses were via knockout. His chin is gone and it’s criminal he fights the best kickboxer in the world under kickboxing rules.

Ben Askren defends his One welterweight title against Zebaztian Kadestam in the main event of the company’s first show in Shanghai, at the Oriental Sports Center on 9/2. That is awfully short notice to run a major show.

There is a very unique match coming at the ADCC submission championships that take place on 9/22 to 9/24 at the Espoo Metro Arena in Espoo, Finland. Chael Sonnen will face Leo Vieira. Viera is a two-time world champion, but won his titles at 145. So his skill level is far beyond Sonnen, but Sonnen will go in with a huge weight advantage. Vieira replaces Frank Mir, who just pulled out. Another match on the show pits Renzo Gracie, now 50, against Sanae Kikuta, 45. The two had an MMA fight the second Pride show ever on March 15, 1998, that Gracie won via submission with a guillotine in 50:43 back in the days of no time limit matches. As I recall, that fight was like watching paint try and I used to use it as a sleep aid.

Terrance Jean-Jacques, a former WWE developmental wrestler, will be challenging for the New England Fights amateur heavyweight championship on 11/3 in Portland, ME against champion Nick Gulliver. Jean-Jacques signed with WWE in the spring of 2016, but his career ended after he was arrested for assault on his pregnant girlfriend several months later. His background before wrestling was being a star athlete in Haverhill, MA, and was the starting heavyweight at Iowa as a freshman compiling a 22-6 record that first year. He left the school and ended up at Division III Rhode Island college, where he took second in the Division III nationals in 2015..