UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier offered his take on the devastating injury that forced Jon Jones to withdraw from his highly anticipated clash against Stipe Miocic.
Eight months after capturing the UFC heavyweight championship with a quick finish over perennial contender Ciryl Gane, ‘Bones’ was expected to defend his title for the first time against Miocic at the promotion’s 30th-anniversary showcase, UFC 295 on November 11 in Madison Square Garden.
Sadly, that is no longer the case after UFC CEO Dana White revealed that Jones had torn his pectoral muscle while sparring, an injury that will keep him on the shelf well into 2024.
As a result, top-ten contenders Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich will slide into the co-main event slot to crown an interim heavyweight champ in Jon Jones’ absence.
Daniel Cormier Suggests Jon Jones’ Injury was due to poor body management
Sharing his theory behind Jones’ injury, Daniel Cormier suggested that even after taking off years to properly bulk up for the heavyweight division, the former light heavyweight champ’s body may have not been prepared for the workload ‘Bones’ attempted to lay on it in preparation for Miocic.
“I think more than anything, this could be related to the different approach to this one,” Cormier said in a video on YouTube. “You can take time to do whatever it is you want to do. Jones said he was bulking, he was getting prepared to become a heavyweight. So, he gained all this weight and he trained and he fought Ciryl Gane and he fought him for about two minutes.
“Now though, he recognizes the challenge ahead of him, so he figured, ‘I’ve got to put in more work, I’ve got to take this new body and I’ve got to teach this new body to train like the 205-pound body because I know the challenge is so big.’ Well, your body’s not prepared for that. Your body’s not ready for that type of workload if you haven’t been doing it.“
Cormier was also admittedly confused by the nature of the injury, adding that the sparring footage showed Jones engaging in some pretty routine wrestling exercises when disaster struck.
“Here’s (what) I wonder in regards to the injury,” Cormier added. “I saw the video and that looks like a very common wrestling situation… I have never seen someone almost tear the pec in a pretty basic wrestling situation. Your arm gets extended, things can happen. Shoulder, sure. Pop a shoulder, other things like that. But I haven’t really seen the pectoral muscle as many times as you would see some of these other injuries.”