UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones injured, title fight at MSG vs. Stipe Miocic called off
Jon Jones goes through his pre-fight routine in the ring before a light heavyweight mixed martial arts bout against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020, in Houston. Jones and Stipe Miocic will no longer fight for the UFC heavyweight championship next month in New York after Jones tore a pectoral tendon off the bone during training. UFC President Dana White said Jones was injured during a training session on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Credit: AP/Michael Wyke
LAS VEGAS — Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will no longer fight for the UFC heavyweight championship next month in New York after Jones tore a pectoral tendon off the bone during training.
UFC President Dana White said Jones was injured during a training session on Monday. The heavyweight champion needs surgery and will be out at least eight months, throwing out the anticipated main event of UFC 295 on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden.
White said Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall will fight for the interim heavyweight title. The light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira was bumped to the main event.
Jones ended a three-year sabbatical from the UFC in March and moved up to its highest weight class to choke out Ciryl Gane and win the vacant championship in the main event of UFC 285.
Jones said after that fight he wanted Miocic, who is the second-ranked contender and who Jones called the greatest heavyweight ever. White said that fight would take place and a date was set for MSG.
Jones had already made the case he was the best light heavyweight by winning a record 14 title fights and is on a UFC-best 18-match unbeaten streak, giving him a 26-1 record with one no-contest.
He was suspended for a year in 2016 for a failed drug test and had his 2017 victory over Daniel Cormier turned into a no-contest after another drug test came up positive.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency changed the criteria for what constitutes a positive test in 2019, and Jones let it be known he would have passed under the revised standards.
Miocic is a former two-time heavyweight champion who last fought when he dropped the belt to Francis Ngannou at UFC 280 in March 2021.
