What was going through Jon Jones' head at UFC 197? 'You've got to fight DC, Jon'

LAS VEGAS – UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones was in his head for his fight with Ovince Saint Preux, and one message kept playing over and over again.

“This may sound funny – a part of me was just like, ‘You’ve got to fight (Daniel Cormier), Jon – you’ve got to fight DC,’” Jones told MMAjunkie after a dominant yet lackluster main event at Saturday’s UFC 197. “‘Do what you’ve got to do to win this fight. The goal is to get back to the UFC. Whether you look like crap right now or not, the goal is to get back to DC.’”

Over 25 minutes, Jones (22-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) paid attention to that voice, and that’s one reason his performance wasn’t one to write home about. The former champ said he saw plenty of opportunities to hurt Saint Preux (19-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC), but admitted he capitalized mostly on the “easy ones” en route to a decision in the pay-per-view headliner at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Of course, the victory came with the outcome Jones wanted in the first place: to set up a fight with undisputed champ Cormier (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who won the belt after he was stripped in the wake of a hit-and-run accident and withdrew from Saturday’s event due to injury.

But the price of heeding his own advice meant Jones had to listen to something else: boos. The crowd at MGM Grand Garden Arena periodically voiced its displeasure with the fight, which was something the ex-champ wasn’t used to.

“I’m not making any excuses, but that was definitely in my psychology,” Jones said. “Do what you’ve got to do to win each round. Finish if you can, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to fight DC, getting in there and haymaking with a guy who has this freakish knockout power, and a guy who gets these knockouts from these really weird and unpredictable angles.”

He said he hoped Saint Preux took some of the blame, given a defense-heavy strategy that led to a lot of circling.

“At one moment when I was hearing the boos, I realized, I’m chasing this guy,” Jones said. “I’m chasing him, and he was just circling and backing up. So I’m like, maybe these boos aren’t for me. But I like to give exciting fights, and I felt like I put my best foot forward. Obviously, I could do more.”

Even with the performance he gave, however, Jones felt confident he could have again bested Cormier, whom he outpointed 15 months ago prior to his troubles outside the cage.

“I would have beat him up pretty good,” Jones said. “I am tuned up to be fighting Daniel Cormier. All the techniques, the ideas, I’ve been working on for Daniel Cormier for over seven months. I’ve been training for one fighter, and they threw me this taller, power-punching switching stances (opponent). It wasn’t what I was prepared for. I believe I would beat Daniel right now. And I want to prove that as soon as possible.”

When Cormier is healed and ready to fight, Jones will get the chance to prove his theory.

For complete coverage of UFC 197, check out the UFC Events section of the site.