Jones pretty much cruised to the finish line from there, posting a lopsided (50-44, 50-45, 50-45) unanimous decision win.
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Not only did Jones inflict defeat upon “OSP”, he also left the Tennessee native with a rather serious injury.
Jones paced himself entering the fifth and final round and controlled the action, landing a big slam and neutralizing any attempt at a late Saint Preux rally.
OVINCE Saint Preux survived five rounds with arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in all of mixed martial arts, but he didn’t leave UFC 197 unscathed.
The interim light-heavyweight title was put on the line, but in this rare instance, the interim title is probably worth more than Cormier’s actual light heavyweight belt. “I’ll be there with my championship belt, with my red wraps on my glove as I come out second and you wait for me to walk to the Octagon”. “I was watching tonight instead of reacting”.
Out with Ovince Saint Preux, in with Daniel Cormier.
“I felt I used 20% of the technique I know”. If St Preux breaks through with the win, the UFC would have to do a match between Cormier and St.
Cormier claimed the vacant light heavyweight strap by submitting Anthony Johnson after Jones’ belt was revoked for his hit-and-run incident in which a pregnant woman broke her arm. Jones acknowledged that facing Saint Preux may have been the best medicine for him after such a long lay-off, but he promised to return even better when he comes back for his next fight against Cormier. “That being said, I’m very disappointed that I didn’t get to compete tonight because I do believe if he showed up in the form he did tonight, if this is the new Jon Jones, there is no way that he can beat me”. Jon Jones is known for his unorthodox fighting style, bringing strikes from unusual angles to end fights. I have a lot to be grateful for.
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Here comes Cormier, who responded to the comments via Twitter on Tuesday and stated that Jones should not be questioning him. We meet here, live, from T-Mobile Arena, the brand-new arena here in Las Vegas, and we unify these titles.
