Jon Jones had the opportunity to headline UFC 230, but he had to turn it down.
UFC 230 will be live on pay-per-view (PPV) from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show goes down live next month on November 3rd. The UFC’s shows in MSG are usually some of their biggest of the year. This will be their third time putting on a show in the historic venue since 2016.
With the card shaping up nicely, featuring some of the biggest names in the sport, fans expected a massive main event. Especially with a name the caliber of Nate Diaz being penciled into the co-featured role. He will fight Dustin Poirier in a 155-pound contest.
Given that Jon Jones, born in New York state, is eligible to return to fight on October 28th from his United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension, fans believed it was a natural fit. However, it was announced a women’s flyweight title bout would instead headline UFC 230. Valentina Shevchenko will fight Sijara Eubanks in the main event.
In a recent interview with ESPN, Jones revealed that he was actually offered the main event at UFC 230. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t comfortable enough for “Bones” to accept, who felt he would’ve had too little time to train:
“It was offered to me, but by the time it was offered to me, I had about five or six weeks to prepare for the fight. I didn’t want my first fight back to be in a situation where I felt rushed, so I declined.”
As for when Jones will return, its been rumored UFC 232 is the target date. That event goes down from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 29th. Jones’ rumored opponent is Alexander Gustafsson.
Jones and Gustafsson put on, arguably, the most memorable light heavyweight title fight in UFC history back in 2013. “Bones” won via controversial unanimous decision. “The Mauler” has been gunning for a shot at redemption for quite some time. It looks like he might get his chance in December.
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