BUFFALO — If not for a “damn sex pill” Jon Jones says his life would already have been in order.

Jones was suspended for a year, the maximum penalty, in July 2016 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for taking a banned substance.

The suspension came after Jones had already had his light-heavyweight crown stripped by the UFC for fleeing the site of a hit-and-run accident in April 2015 in which a pregnant woman was injured.

On Friday, Jones took to the stage in a room at the KeyBank Centre in Buffalo to address a news conference for the first time since last July, when he broke down in tears after revealing he wouldn’t be participating in UFC 200 and a rematch against champion Daniel Cormier.

“I did a lot of work to get back to UFC 200,” Jones told his audience. “A lot of cleaning up of my life and my circle and to fall back so far because of a damn sex pill ... It was very hurtful that people saw me as this guy that kept messing up. The truth of the matter is that I’ve had my life pretty together for the last two years, since that hit-and-run. If I hadn’t taken that sex drug I would be champion right now and people would be saying, ‘Wow, it’s great to see the way Jon has turned his life around.’ Instead, the consensus is this guy can’t get his s*** together, even though I’ve had it together for a long time.”

While the former champion didn’t break down this time, he did choke up a bit as he sat alone on the stage and talked about his career and accomplishments while at the same time denying he has ever taken steroids and said the banned substance was an estrogen blocker found in the Cialis-like pill he took.

Jones had already beaten Cormier once, a five-round unanimous-decision victory at UFC 182.

Cormier, who is defending his light-heavyweight title against Anthony Johnson in a rematch in the UFC 210 main event on Saturday, is none too pleased to have Jones around and said Thursday the former champion should be embarrassed to show his face.

“That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard,” Jones said. “I haven’t been to a UFC event throughout my whole suspension. I barely tweet or Facebook or do anything on social media. Does he want me to hide forever? Stealing his spotlight wasn’t my intention. But, yeah, he hates me, that’s safe to say. I annoy him a lot. It definitely works to my advantage, I’m so deep inside this guy’s head.”

WEIGHTY ISSUES

Maybe Cormier should be a magician when he retires from the fight game because he miraculously shed 1.2 pounds in about two minutes to make weight for his title defence.

Cormier, towel held around him because he was stripped naked, looked a little anxious as he got on the scale on Friday morning at the Marriot hotel just minutes before the 11 a.m. deadline for the two-hour weigh-in window and topped out at 206.2 pounds.

There was dead silence in the room when it appeared the belt would no longer be on the line. But then the champ disappeared behind a curtain barrier and, when he returned and stepped back on the scale, he had somehow lost the extra weight.

Cormier and his team let out a huge whoop.

Some say Cormier pressed down on the towel to take weight off the scale.

Jones didn’t pull any punches when he was asked to weigh in on the controversy.

“That was absolutely nuts, I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing,” Jones said. “If you focus on his hands you can see him looking down, balancing off his weight just right. What a clever trick, very dishonest of him. The crazy thing is it was allowed to happen. I would imagine there has to be some sort of commission or something to go back and see this blatant foul play and address it. They just completely got away with one of the dirtiest things I’ve seen in sports.”

Johnson tipped the scale at 203.8 pounds, 1.2 pounds under the limit.

WHAT BOOBS!

Weigh-ins aren’t supposed to be this controversial, but a main-card strawweight fight between Pearl Gonzalez and Cynthia Calvillo was almost scuttled after the athletic commission learned that Gonzalez has breast implants, apparently not fighting legal in New York State.

Gonzalez had already successfully weighed in when she was told that she wouldn’t be allowed to fight. UFC president Dana White later tweeted that “This fight is on” just before Gonzalez hit the stage at the weigh-ins held for the fans later in the day.

Poor Gonzalez then had to field questions from the media regarding the situation. “I want to show the world not only do I have breast implants, I’m a talented fighter,” she said.

BRIEFLY

Of course, Johnson and Cormier aren’t the only ones to watch Saturday night. Jones has his eyes on former middleweight champ Chris Weidman going up against No. 5 Gegard Mousasi, one of the most well-rounded fighters in the UFC. “It’s going to be great to see,” Jones said of the fight. “Just a great contrast in styles, two very experience fighters. I should be exciting.” Weidman is looking to end a two-fight losing streak, while Mousasi is going for his fifth straight win ... Former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, who was in Buffalo to promote TUF 25: Redemption, gives the edge to Johnson against Cormier, saying things are going to “go wrong” for the champion, while Jones feels Cormier is just too well-rounded to lose.

dhilson@postmedia.com