Daniel Cormier’s late replacement OSP feels, at UFC 197 the pressure is on Jon Jones and that he can hold his own with the best fighters in the world.
Ovince St Preux is a safe bet when it comes to last-minute replacements. The 32-year old has stepped in on short notice multiple times during his career. Only this time it might just be his biggest fight ever, when he replaces injured light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 197 and faces former champ and UFC superstar Jon Jones for the interim 205-pound belt.
But still, the 26-fight veteran feels no added weight on his shoulders and believes that all the pressure will be on Jones when the Octagon door closes.
“(The interim-championship title) adds a little more pressure,” Saint Preux told MMA Junkie. “Not to me, but to him. In a situation like that, what do you have to lose?
“At times, I feel I do better on short notice,” Saint Preux said. “It’s going to get a little hectic in the next two, three weeks. But at least it wasn’t like that for the last three or four months, so I don’t have to do any adjustments at all. All the adjustment’s on (Jones). You look at me, and I’m a pretty good fighter. I can hold my own with the best of them.”
Jones is considered to be the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet and only has one defeat on his record, a very debatable disqualification at that. Many of the division’s best have failed to take out the unorthodox, tall and lanky striker. However, Saint Preux is confident that he can take Jones out of his game and deliver him the first legitimate defeat of his career.
“I might not put you away, but you’re going to feel it, and your knees are going to buckle. And if I hit you with a third one, it will put you away. That’s the happy medium I’ve been working on,” Saint Preux said. “Guys like that, you break them out of their pattern, and that’s what I intend to do. If I have the opportunity to finish him, I’m going to go ahead and take that opportunity. I guarantee you, he knows, as well as his camp knows, I can do that if the opportunity presents itself.
“He’s a beast, and I’m a beast, too. We both can do some beast (expletive).
Jones and Saint Preux will headline UFC 197 on April 23.