UFC champ Jon Jones offers $1,500 reward for missing rare cat

Updated on 4/11/14 at 10:30 p.m. ET:

WE FOUND MUFASA!! Tomorrow afternoon sometime I will contact the woman who gave me the big tip. Very grateful—
Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 11, 2014

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Jon Jones has enough on his plate later this month in Baltimore, but now he has the stress of a missing pet to deal with, as well.

Jones, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, has offered a $1,500 reward for the return of Mufasa, a rare cat breed, the fighter told KRQE News in Albuquerque, N.M., where he trains at the Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA camp.

Jones (19-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) is preparing for his latest title defense later this month at UFC 172 against Glover Teixeira (22-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) on April 26 in Baltimore.

Mufasa, apparently named after the father lion in the Disney animated classic “The Lion King,” is about 20 pounds, Jones said. The cat is a cross between an African serval and a domestic house cat and is known as a Savannah cat.

“If anyone sees him, they would know right away that he’s not your typical house cat,” Jones said, due to the animal’s size.

One breeder offering Savannahs online priced the largest males at as much as $22,000, with the largest females selling for as much as $35,000.

Jones said the cat escaped from his Albuquerque home this past Saturday, and that he was seen not far away on Monday – but wasn’t able to be captured before taking off again. The nearly 1-year-old cat, which is orange, black and white is probably hungry, Jones told the station.

Check out the video above for footage of Mufasa provided to the station by Jones, and for more information on the champion’s family’s missing pet.

And for more on UFC 172, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.