Jones was stripped of the title nearly a year ago to the night after he was involved in a hit-and-run auto accident in his hometown of Albuquerque, N.M. His bitter rival, Daniel Cormier, whom he had beaten at UFC 182 in his last appearance in the cage, won the vacant belt by submitting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.
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Saint Preux was a last-minute replacement for Jones’ original opponent, Daniel Cormier, who suffered a foot injury less than a month before UFC 197. The UFC 197 main card and main event fights begins sometime after 10 pm EST / 7 pm PST depending on how long the other four main card fights take, so plan your TV viewing accordingly.
This wasn’t Jones’ best performance, and looked like he badly needed a fight before competing for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
“I don’t think I want that belt, it’s not the real belt”, Jones said after the fight, “I want my actual belt back”. Jones will now face explosive former college football player and Strikeforce veteran Ovince Saint Preux. So now the UFC has a super-fight for later in the year.
He quickly made it clear the interim belt was not enough to satisfy him. Both the more muay thai-centric Barboza and the more heavily taekwondo-influenced Pettis have faced setbacks to their careers in recent bouts, so a win Saturday will have important implications regarding the hopes of a future title run for both fighters. He defeated Ovince Saint Preux by unanimous decision to become the new interim light heavyweight champion.
All three judges scored the fight for Jones: 50-44, 50-45 and 50-45.
Two of Saint Preux’s losses came against Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader, guys Bones handeled easily. It turned in the fourth round as Jones was able to secure two big takedowns, gaining side control following the second and delivering heavy elbows and punches to easily take the round.
“Maybe I should take my time a little bit”, he said.
Cejudo is a +300 underdog in this match going up against the speedy and athletic champion Johnson (-400).
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They have ideas that they’ve worked on in camp – ideas that Johnson’s head coach Matt Hume says the champion should have committed to memory to the point that he shouldn’t necessarily need to speak in the corner – and as they see what is being presented, they adjust and react.
