By Jesse Holland @Jesse_Holland on Aug 29 2014
“Bones” was scheduled to fight a stocky wrestler, not a towering kickboxer. So why was “Demolition Man” in a position to injure the UFC 178 headliner? Inquiring minds want to know!
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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones was headlining the most stacked pay-per-view (PPV) card of the year, defending his 205-pound title against former heavyweight and decorated Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier at UFC 178.
Except now he’s not.
That’s because “Bones” was injured when training with Alistair Overeem, who recently joined Greg Jackson’s mixed martial arts (MMA) camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Something that drives UFC President Dana White “crazy,” according to comments he made on Jim Rome’s podcast.
Here’s why:
“It drives me crazy. First of all he’s fighting a 5' 10? unbelievable wrestler – that’s who he is facing in Daniel Cormier. [But] he’s training with 6' 10? no-wrestling, all-stand up kickboxer Alistair Overeem. And Alistair Overeem lands on his leg and busts his knee up and gives him a high ankle sprain. I mean, I just don’t know why he would be training with Alistair Overeem for a fight when he’s going to fight a 5' 10? wrestler. I don’t know, it’s frustrating. I wanted to pick the phone up about 20 times and call [Greg Jackson] and say ‘What are you doing? Why’s he training with Alistair Overeem to fight Daniel Cormier? Please tell me how that makes sense?’ But I didn’t. I bit my tongue, until right this second.”
Accidental? Depends on who you ask.
The injury required surgery and Jones will be on the shelf until 2015, cooling off some of the heat generated during the UFC 178 media day melee. Taking over as the UFC 178 main event is a flyweight title fight pitting Demetrious Johnson opposite Chris Cariaso.
White has questions … does Jackson have answers?