Jon Jones Injured, Forced Out of Planned UFC 178 Meeting with Daniel Cormier

[Swinny]

Jon Jones injured, forced out of planned UFC 178 meeting with Daniel Cormier

It turns out the grudge match is going to have to wait.

UFC officials today announced that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (20-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) suffered a “leg injury†in training and has been forced to withdraw from the highly anticipated UFC 178 headliner opposite undefeated contender Daniel Cormier (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC). The bout has been rescheduled for UFC 182, which takes place Jan. 3 in Las Vegas.

Additional reports indicated Jones’ injury includes a torn meniscus in his knee, as well as a sprained ankle.

A flyweight title fight between current champ Demetrious Johnson (20-2-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) and Chris Cariaso (17-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC), which was expected to serve as the co-feature of this month’s UFC 177 event, will now be the main event of UFC 178, which takes place on Sept. 27 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

While Jones and Cormier have long been on a collision course, it took a little bit of bad luck on Alexander Gustafsson’s part to get the fight booked. The big Swede originally was set to take part in a rematch of his epic UFC 165 clash with Jones, but injury forced Gustafsson out of the bout, and Cormier happily took his place.

After some initial banter on social media, the clash between the two became the center of the MMA world after the two came to blows during a pre-fight media session in the lobby of Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. Things then took a decidedly darker turn when leaked footage from on off-air incident surfaced and featured some off-color language, as well as a Jones threat to “literally kill†Cormier, who had expressed a desire to spit in the champ’s face.

Now the blockbuster matchup will have to wait until 2015.

Due to the change in the main event, UFC officials are offering ticket refunds to those interested. The deadline for such an exchange is Aug. 22.

MMAJunkie

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Well maybe next time they have a media day, they should act like big boys and not fight.

I call for Cormier to fight Anthony Johnson now. If I was a UFC match maker, there's no way I would give Daniel Cormier another rescheduled shot without earning it after that circus he made of MMA.