White knew Jones failed test before UFC 182; never considered cancelling fight

The Jon Jones saga continues, and as the story unfolds, the details get murkier and murkier.

UFC president Dana White appeared on Fox Sports 1 on Wednesday to discuss Jones entering rehab, and why the promotion didn't cancel the bout between Jones and Daniel Cormier when they learned of the champion's failed drug test.

"I was shocked, obviously, and this is one of those situations where it's so different than if a guy gets busted for performance-enhancing drugs," White said according to MMAjunkie's John Morgan. "You worry about the person first, you know? You forget about the fighting and the work side of it. You worry about the person, Jon Jones as a person. He got checked into rehab, they’re going to evaluate him and then we’ll go from there."

Though UFC brass were aware Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites prior to UFC 182, White never considered cancelling or delaying the fight.

What happened was, so they do these tests leading up to a fight, these random drug tests, and he tested positive. No, (there was no talk of postponing the fight) because No. 1, he was healthy. No. 2, the reason you would stop a fight and the hammer would drop on a guy would be if he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

(Cormier) was not (informed of the failed test) because he didn't need to be. If he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, everything would have got shut down. The other thing people have to understand about this situation is Jon Jones was contracted to fight. We have a contract with him. Everybody thinks that we can just say, 'Hey, the fight's off. The fight's not happening.' Damn right he had the right to fight.

It would be interesting to see what the outcome would be if a lesser-known fighter was popped for recreational drug use. The UFC's Code of Conduct policy would seemingly allow them to cancel a fight if one of the combatants was caught using drugs, whether he was contracted to fight or not.