LAS VEGAS, Nevada, – The UFC has announced that former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Bones Jones has been re-instated and will challenge current champion Daniel Cormier for the title in the main event of UFC 197 on April 23 at the MGM Grand Garden.
This is his first match since Jan 3, 2015 when Jones defeated Cormier at UFC 182. It was a dominating effort by Jones won by scores of 49-46 on all three judges’ cards and never allowed Cormier to obtain the upper hand in the bout.
Jones, who is widely regarded not only as the greatest active mixed martial arts fighter but also as the best of all-time has never had a bigger challenger then himself and his un-wise decisions outside of the cage. It is no secret the issues he has had, he has encountered from every from drugs, to leaving the scene of a car accident after hitting a pregnant women.
His win against Cormier was tarnished when he failed a drug test in December, before the fight with Cormier, testing positive for cocaine. He should not have been tested for street drugs, but it was inadvertently done and caught him with cocaine in his system. The UFC didn’t strip of him of his title yet, but rather they later fined Jones $25,000 for a code of conduct policy violation.
It should have been a warning sign for Jones, but after checking out of a drug rehab facility after one day, his horrible 2015 was just getting started. On April 5th, a rental car he was driving ran a red light and rammed into a vehicle driven by a pregnant woman. Jones fled the scene, and police later discovered cash and a pipe with marijuana in it. That would seal the fate for Jones as the UFC suspended him days later.
Cormier capitalized on Jones being gone and the title vacant when he stepped into UFC 187 on May 23 in a bout against Anthony Johnson that was for the vacant belt. After surviving the early barrage from Johnson, Cormier remained composed and went on to submit Johnson in the third round with a rear naked choke
There is no doubt that Jones will be out for blood in trying to re-claim the title he never lost. He has only been truly pushed once in his entire career and no one else has come close to stopping him.
A flyweight title fight between champion Demetrious Johnson and No. 1 contender Henry Cejudo will be the co-main event. Johnson has won nine fights in a row but will face one of the toughest tests of his career with Cejudo who is a gold-medal winner in wrestling at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Cejudo, is 10-0 overall, 4-0 in the UFC and No. 3 in the flyweight rankings.
It will easily be the biggest card of the young year. One has to wonder why they didn’t wait until UFC 200 in July?
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