Madison Square Garden, New York City
As the old saying goes… “there’s always something”. Just a week after Dana White had to scramble to repair UFC 294, he had to once again pull a rabbit out of a hat. Due to a massive injury to Jon Jones, there’s a big change to UFC 295.
While doing wrestling drills for his first-heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic on November 11th at the mecca is when things went sideways. While going for a takedown, he tore his left pectoralis muscle off the bone. So now “Bones” needs surgery that will keep him sidelined for eight-months.
White hasn’t confirmed if Miocic, who hasn’t fought in 31-months will head to New York City in any capacity. Whether to do any promotional spots, sit cageside at the event, be the now backup fighter for the now co-main event slot, or take on a different opponent. Stipe had been adament that he only wanted to fight for the strap.
So working super fast the promoter got on his horn to fix the issue. Moving up to the main event slot is the former co-main event. A bit of irony in the fact that it’s Jones’s old division title. The light heavyweight title between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka is the new main event. And sliding is as the new co-main event slot is Tom Aspinall and the devistating Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight strap. The likelihood there’s a second-round is slim-to-none with these two.
Big Change To UFC 295 Might Bring New Wave To The UFC
Pavlovich is on a six-fight win streak, and has 15-first-round finishes in his 18-wins. Aspinall, who was coming to New York anyways to be the backup fighter for Miocic-Jones is far from a slouch. His footwork is crisp and he’s the more well rounded fighter.
There was talk that either Miocic, Jones, or both would call it a career post-fight. Now it becomes a question, will either retire as is. Although, it’s more likely that Miocic calls it. He loves the quiet growing family life, and being a volunteer fireman in Ohio has more of his heart these days.
With Jones not ready to train again till the end of spring next year, the clock starts to really tick on his time table. He’s not the young gun he once was. He’s protective of his legacy and won’t come back a second before his body is fully ready. Hence him taking his time to properly move up a division.
But could a 37-year old Jones coming off of a hard injury deal with fighters younger than 32-is anyone’s guess. Especially since they would have a speed advantage. And be strong defensively. Overall the 295 card is still very top heavy with a very light undercard. But it is a shame we don’t get to see the chess match that Miocic vs Jones would have been.
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