One of the most infamous moments in UFC history came on Aug. 23, 2012 when Dan Henderson pulled out of his light heavyweight title bout with Jon Jones that was set for UFC 151 because of an injury.
A late injury to a main event fighter on a pay-per-view show always provides UFC president Dana White with two particularly difficult tasks: First, he needs to find an opponent who has enough name recognition to save the show from a business standpoint.
Secondly, he has to be able to convince some fighter to take an important bout with the benefit of a training camp against one of the sport’s elite.
UFC 151 provided White with a third significant challenge: He had to convince Jones, the healthy fighter, to sign off on the last-minute change.
Jones, though, declined to face Chael Sonnen on short notice and UFC 151 went into the history books as the card that never was, branded by White as the show “Jon Jones and Greg Jackson murdered.”
Jones’ decision to decline the bout and White’s reaction to said decision created extraordinary tension in the relationship between the sport’s most dominant promoter and its finest fighter. The show was canceled and White made no secret of his disdain for Jones for, in his words, a failure “to step up.”
Jones didn’t decline the bout with Sonnen at UFC 151 out of a fear that he would have trouble with Sonnen, or as a way to get back at UFC management.
Rather, Jones is a fighter who is precise in his preparation and spends a great deal of time analyzing video and drilling in practice. Jones determined that Sonnen was just too different stylistically from Henderson to be able to compete at anywhere near his best, so he declined.
And last week, White found himself in an eerily similar position when he had to call Jones to tell the ex-light heavyweight champion that Daniel Cormier had injured a left leg and was going to be forced out of their UFC 197 title fight, which was slated for April 23 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
When White offered Jones a match against Ovince Saint Preux when Cormier pulled out, it would have been easy for Jones to say no thanks, again. Saint Preux is a vastly different opponent than Cormier and there were only roughly three weeks to the bout.
“When they originally called me and asked me to fight a replacement, I told them the chances would be slim,” said Jones.
However, he felt an obligation this time around, to the fans, if not to UFC management.
“I know people who bought tickets and it’s been so long since I’ve [fought],” Jones said.
When White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta originally called Jones, he said the chance that he’d take the fight would be slim, but said he wanted to discuss the matter with his coaches.
Before he called them back, they called him with an added inducement.
“They said, ‘Hey, if this makes a difference to you, we’re going to make it for an interim title,’ ” Jones said.
But Jones didn’t really need the motivation of an interim title to get him to say yes. He’d attended a March 4 news conference in which the fans gave him a hero’s reception.
They roared for him, booing Cormier and leaving the stunned champion to shake his head in disbelief.
“I think people appreciate the fact that I’m looking for redemption and getting back on my feet and getting my life back,” Jones said. “Another thing is, I think people know I never lost to Daniel Cormier. They knew the real champion was back and … I think they missed me.”
That meant a lot to Jones, who posted a video on Instagram shortly after news of Cormier’s injury broke saying he’d fight a heavyweight or light heavyweight if it meant saving the show.
The last year has been difficult for Jones. Prior to his dominant win over Cormier at UFC 182, Jones had tested positive for cocaine. But because it came out of competition, it wasn’t technically a violation of drug-testing rules and so neither the Nevada Athletic Commission nor the UFC could do anything about it.
But it was a sign that something was wrong, when a world-class athlete would be caught using such a drug less than a month before a bout against his most heated rival.
He built a reputation as arguably the greatest mixed martial arts fighter who ever lived despite having an issue with drugs and alcohol.
Four months later, Jones was involved in a hit-and-run traffic accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in which he ran broadside into a car driven by a pregnant woman and was subsequently stripped of his title. Cormier won a bout for the vacant belt against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson by scoring a second-round submission at UFC 187.
Further, he realized that he had let a lot of fans down by his actions in the preceding few months. He’d been suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission for a brawl with Cormier in the lobby of the MGM at a news conference. He had the positive test for cocaine and then the hit-and-run accident. Just last week, he spent two days in jail for his probation violation, however he doesn't expect that to impact his upcoming fight with Saint Preux.
“I don’t think it will turn out to be a negative,” he said of the jail stint and the missed training sessions. “I think it will turn out good for me. I was able to take a few days to reflect on my life and how things have gone for me. It was a humbling experience, but I think it helped me keep sight of what is important.”
He said he’s confident he’ll beat Saint Preux and said “I’m more experienced all-around in every category of mixed martial arts.”
If he wins, he was asked if he wanted to fight Cormier for the full belt at UFC 200 on July 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
At first, he said he’d like to fight on either that show or at the UFC debut show in Madison Square Garden.
“[Muhammad] Ali fought there and to me, that’s the mecca [of the fight game],” he said.
But as he spoke, a thought occurred to him.
“I’ll be honest, I’d rather fight in Rochester, New York, at the arena there, than in the Garden,” Jones said. “I haven’t done much for the people there, and I’ve carried a certain amount of guilt with me about that.
“To go there and fight in their arena, that would mean a lot to the fans there and so it would mean a lot to me. Fighting in Rochester, at this point of my life, would mean more to me than [fighting] just about anywhere.”