Alexander Gustafsson: Jon Jones Is a Cheater, What He Says Is 'Bulls--t'

Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones exchanged some last-minute trash talk ahead of Saturday's fight at UFC 232. 

Gustafsson took aim at Jones testing positive for a trace amount of turinabol, which forced UFC to move this weekend's pay-per-view from Las Vegas to Inglewood, California.

"Yes, I do," Gustafsson said when asked if Jones is a cheater, per MMA Fighting's Marc Raimondi. "This guy is not confident. He’s gotta put stuff in his body to be confident."

Gustafsson added that "whatever this guy [Jones] is saying is bulls--t," according to ESPN.com's Ariel Helwani.

Jones fired back at the notion he took a banned substance because he lacked confidence.

"It's good that you believe a microscopic pictogram allows me to become more confident," he said, per the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire.

According to ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto, USADA examined Jones' sample from Dec. 9 and determined the trace amounts were likely an aftereffect of his positive test for turinabol in 2017. Okamoto wrote, "the low amount does not suggest Jones re-administered a parent drug."

MMA Fighting's Shaheen Al-Shatti shared a timeline of the testing process leading up to UFC's decision to move UFC 232:

While getting flagged for a trace amount of a banned substance doesn't equal a positive test, some argued the situation doesn't reflect well upon Jones or UFC:

The result of Saturday's fight will give fans and writers something else to talk about regarding Jones, but this story is unlikely to quiet down anytime soon.

During a UFC 232 conference call, Jones told reporters the prospect of fighting Brock Lesnar "is aways appealing" and that it would be "a huge money fight." The scrutiny over Jones' testing history might even intensify were UFC to set him up for a main event with one of the company's biggest stars.