41°F
weather icon Clear

Former UFC champ Jon Jones likely to fight for title upon return in July

When Jon Jones was pulled from the headlining bout of UFC 200 just days before the historic event at T-Mobile Arena in July 2016 due to a failed out-of-competition drug test, UFC president Dana White said he would have a hard time booking the troubled superstar in another main event.

White might be having a change of heart.

During a Tuesday appearance on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast, White revealed Jones would probably fight the winner of an upcoming bout between Anthony Johnson and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier upon his return from suspension in July.

It’s difficult to imagine that fight wouldn’t serve as the main event of the organization’s traditional Independence Day weekend event in Las Vegas, which is likely to take place on July 8 this year.

Cormier and Johnson will meet in the main event of UFC 210 on April 8. Should the winner get out of that fight healthy, it would make sense for a title defense to take place around the time Jones becomes eligible.

“Jon Jones is supposed to return around July so the timing is perfect,” White said. “I haven’t talked to him. I haven’t talked to Jon Jones since the whole incident (at UFC 200). Depending on where Jon’s head is and where he thinks he is, I would assume he would come right back and try to get his title back.”

Jones has been through a series of ups-and-downs. He had his belt stripped in April 2015 after he was charged in a hit-and-run accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He finally returned a year later and captured the interim title when he beat Ovince Saint Preux, who was filling in for an injured Cormier.

Jones was then set to face Cormier at UFC 200, but was removed from the card and suspended a year when a test came back positive for the banned substances clomiphene and letrozole. He argued the positive test was due to a tainted sexual enhancement pill provided by a teammate, but the penalty was upheld by an arbitration panel.

Still, Jones has not lost since suffering the only defeat of his professional career in 2009 when he was disqualified for an illegal elbow in a fight he was dominating against Matt Hamill.

The win over Saint Preux was the only time Jones has been in the cage since defending the belt with a win over Cormier in January 2015.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
MORE STORIES
THE LATEST
UFC-occupied buildings in Las Vegas sell for $23.6M

The off-market sale was brokered by Colliers and features two buildings which are 70 percent occupied by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

UFC reaches $375M settlement in class-action lawsuit

The UFC reached another settlement with one of the two class-action litigants, agreeing Thursday to pay the former fighters $375 million after a previous agreement was thrown out by a Nevada district judge.