Jones seemed to be playing this humbled and changed person in the cage, expressing disappointment in his performance and saying perhaps he wasn’t prepared to fight Cormier on Saturday night.
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11,352 spectators attended the event generating gate receipts totally $2,300,000. This was Jones’ first fight since he was stripped of the title and suspended previous year following a hit-and run incident.
The Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier rivalry is heating up again this week with Jones having doubts regarding Cormier’s recent injury that forced the latter to withdraw from their championship fight at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 197 this Saturday. UFC 200 needs a main event. Johnson’s versatility is his greatest strength, and he’ll need it to keep this fight off the mat as Cejudo is an Olympic gold medalist as a wrestler.
UFC 197: Jones vs. Saint Preux featured three knockouts, one submission, and eight decisions. Jones followed with another takedown and a series of elbows. It was the 13th straight win in UFC for Jones. Granted, it’s an interim belt and Cormier was very vocal about that, too.
Ferrara, who hosts KNS Sports Page on WNML and does play-by-play for MMA fights, said despite being a heavy underdog, Saint Preux has a chance.
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But can the light heavyweight contender defeat Jon Jones, who is the best fighter in his division? Saint Preux is an explosive striker and a quick counter attacker, creating a potential threat should Jones show any rust in his return to action. Saint Preux fell to 19-8. “I was watching, imagining, anticipating techniques – knowing when techniques would have landed, but just not going for it”, he said. Speaking in front of the media after his open workouts last Wednesday, Jones says he believes this is a momentary setback for “The Notorious”. All it took was one sub-par performance for Cormier to go from not knowing how to beat Jon Jones to knowing that there’s no way the guy can beat him. I’m grateful for a lot but I’m still disappointed. “And other guys, they go out there and they perform better than they ever have in the past”.
