When Vitor Belfort trapped Jon Jones in a first-round arm bar, and nearly pulled off a major upset in the main event of UFC 152 on Sept. 22, it quickly became apparent Belfort did some damage to the UFC light heavyweight champion.
And while Jones managed to get out of the submission attempt and went on to pull off the victory that night, he showed up at the post-fight press conference with his right arm in a sling.
Nearly a month later, Jones knows the extent of his injury: A strained ligament in his right elbow. That was the diagnosis of a Los Angeles doctor who checked Jones out last week, according to Malki Kawa, Jones’ agent.
MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported the news on Tuesday night’s edition of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV.
Jones will undergo physical therapy on the arm while he tapes the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which he’ll coach opposite Chael Sonnen. According to Kawa, the time Jones will have to spend on the sidelines helped influence his decision to coach on “TUF” opposite Sonnen.
If all goes according to plan, the two will fight on April 27. That will mean Jones, who fought five times between Feb. 2011 and April of this year, will have just one fight, Belfort, in a one-year span.