That sure didn’t take long.
Less than 24 hours after the date for the light heavyweight title showdown between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira was officially announced for UFC 170 on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas, the matchup has been scrapped and will now get pushed back to some time later in 2014.
Speaking to the media following Thursday’s press conference for UFC 167, Dana White announced the title tilt was no longer happening at UFC 170 due to Jones pulling out, and a new main event bout would be sought for the card. White also speculated the fight could be rescheduled for a potential date in March, but nothing was set in stone at this time.
White’s news on Thursday marks the second time the fight between Jones and Teixeira has been nixed. They were originally slated to square off in the main event of UFC 169 set for Super Bowl weekend in Newark, N.J., but Jones needed more time to recover from his hectic back-and-forth battle with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165.
While the Newark card’s Feb. 1 date wasn’t enough time for the pound-for-pound great to recover and get a full camp in, apparently the Feb. 22 slot for UFC 170 provided the ideal timeline for the 26-year-old champion to get everything in order.
That certainly doesn’t appear to be the case with Jones pulling out of the fight, and no information has been released in regard to the condition that forced the decision.
Jones is coming off his record-setting sixth defense of his light heavyweight crown in a “Fight of the Year”-worthy performance at UFC 165 in September. As for Teixeira, the Brazilian powerhouse has won five consecutive fights since joining the UFC in 2012, with his most recent showing resulting in an impressive first-round knockout over former TUF winner Ryan Bader at Fight Night 28.
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