Jon Jones is determined to fight at UFC 197—even if the former light heavyweight champion has to take on a heavyweight contender at the event on April 23.
Continue for updates.
St. Preux, Evans—Not Johnson—The Front-Runners to Fight Jones
Saturday, April 2
Jones’ publicist tweeted Anthony “Rumble” Johnson would replace Cormier but quickly deleted the message, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports.
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com followed up by saying that matchup is highly unlikely, but Ovince St. Preux and Rashad Evans would be open to a potential bout with Jones:
Jones (21-1) has never fought St. Preux (19-7), which may make for an interesting go. He defeated Evans (24-4-1) by a unanimous decision at UFC 145, and a potential rematch later this month would be nearly four years to the day.
Evans would make a lot of sense given he’s slated to fight April 16 against Glover Teixeira. He would be in fighting shape to take on Jones a week later, but depending on how his first bout goes, he may be apprehensive to get right back into the Octagon.
Jones’ scheduled opponent, Daniel Cormier, was forced to back out Friday due to injury, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com, leaving a disappointed Jones in limbo.
Yet Jones posted a video via Instagram Saturday urging UFC to find a last-minute replacement:
The UFC suspended Jones for six months and stripped him of his light heavyweight title following a hit-and-run incident in New Mexico. It reinstated him last October, but during his hiatus, Cormier claimed the vacant the title.
It seemed to be a perfect storm brewing, as Jones just this week avoided jail for another traffic run-in that landed him five citations for a slew of offenses related to drag racing, per Steven Marrocco of MMAJunkie.com.
Jones admitted in his Instagram post he’s wary of taking on last-minute opponents, but given the tumultuous year he’s had, he clearly wants to give the fans a show.
And the momentum seems to be rapidly building in finding him another opponent.
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