If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few days, then you know Jon Jones has a bit of a boo-boo on his toe. The compound fracture went unnoticed by Jones until Joe Rogan pointed it out in the post-fight interview.
For anyone that hasn’t seen the GIF of the toe breaking, I highly recommend staying away if you have a weak stomach.
Although the injury appears to be gruesome, it actually shouldn’t keep the champ out of action for very long. He’ll likely be on the sidelines for a few weeks, as his toe will be immobilized, but given his youth and recovery times of other fighters with similar injuries, I’d expect Jones to fight before 2013 is finished.
The champion has already stated his intentions regarding his career moving forward, in that he wants to break Tito Ortiz’s records in the light heavyweight division prior to moving up to heavyweight. That leaves one opportunity for any potential title challengers to try and take down the seemingly invincible champion.
Lyoto Machida has already been guaranteed a title shot after defeating Dan Henderson, and Alexander Gustafsson was promised one after his defeat of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua back in Dec. of 2012.
While it would make sense in terms of rankings for Machida and Gustafsson to fight one another, it appears as if Machida and his camp want nothing to do with it. That leaves the UFC in a bit of a predicament as to who will face Jones in his next bout.
The champion said he was interested in fighting Gustafsson next during the UFC 159 post-fight press conference, but who knows if the UFC is willing to give the Swede that kind of opportunity, after the UFC on Fuel 9 debacle that saw Gustafasson forced off the card only days prior to the event.
The major effect it will have on the division is that it keeps Jones in the division for a bit longer than he anticipated. Few title matches will have much anticipation behind them due to Jones’ dominance, which likely forces the UFC’s hand in picking Gustafsson to face Jones as the champion.
Jones’ injury may slow the process of his moving up to heavyweight a bit, but it’s an inevitable change that is still on the horizon.
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