Dana White Nixes UFC 170 Headliner; Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira on the Move Again

Less than 24 hours after announcing that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (19-1) would put his belt on the line against Glover Teixeira (22-2) at UFC 170 on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas, UFC officials again had to retract the champ’s next scheduled date.

Jones vs. Teixeira was initially announced for the promotion’s Super Bowl weekend fight card on Feb. 1 at UFC 169 in New Jersey. That turned out to be a premature reveal.

“That’s going to be later. That was never a done deal,” UFC president Dana White said shortly after the initial announcement. “Our people put it out, but they shouldn’t have.”

That led to a revised date for Jones vs. Teixeira at UFC 170 that was announced by UFC officials on Wednesday night.

Just moments before Thursday’s UFC 167: St-Pierre vs. Hendricks news conference, however, White was informed that Jones wouldn’t be available for the Feb. 22 event.

White informed MMAWeekly.com and a small group of reporters following Thursday’s news conference about the change, although he did not give a reason why Jones wouldn’t be available for UFC 170, which he and Teixeira were expected to headline.

The UFC president said that the fight would remain intact, but it would be pushed back to a later date, possibly as soon as March.