UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is withdrawing from his UFC 178 title defense opposite Daniel Cormier due to a leg injury. Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter first reported the news on Twitter, which the UFC then confirmed on Fox Sports 1’s America’s Pregame news show:
Botter reported via Twitter the specific nature of the injury suffered in training:
The bout with Cormier is being rescheduled for UFC 182, which will take place on Jan. 3, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. A flyweight title fight between champion Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso is moving from UFC 177 to UFC 178, per the UFC’s official Twitter account, and will likely serve as the card’s new main event.
Jones and top light heavyweight contender Cormier have been engaged in a heated rivalry. The beef started years ago, when Cormier was still competing as a heavyweight in Strikeforce.
Cormier eventually moved down to the light heavyweight division, successfully defeating UFC newcomer Patrick Cummins and Pride legend Dan Henderson.
When former top contender Alexander Gustafsson was forced to withdraw from his UFC 178 fight with Jones, Cormier stepped in, and the two immediately began exchanging words.The rivalry came to a head last week, when the two fighters clashed in a massive brawl in front of the assembled media.
This turn of events is unfortunate, as UFC 178 was one of the strongest top-to-bottom cards the UFC had put together in a long while. It still includes the returns of former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and women’s bantamweight contender Cat Zingano, a crucial middleweight tilt between Tim Kennedy and Yoel Romero, a featherweight grudge match between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier and much more.
While the majority of the card remains intact, the loss of Jones vs. Cormier is profound.
Ben Fowkles of MMAJunkie and our own Jeremy Botter summed up the mood of the MMA community with their respective tweets.
Stick with Bleacher Report for more details as they become available.
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