St. Preux jumps at chance to fight returning ex-champ Jones
When Ovince St. Preux got a message from Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmaker Joe Silva last week to immediately call his manager, the light heavyweight contender knew immediately what it was about.
“I had heard about (Daniel Cormier’s injury about a week earlier),” St. Preux said. “One of my trainers had told me, but I just kind of went about my days and didn’t worry about that stuff. But in the process, my trainer had mentioned that if it’s true, we need to make sure they know we want the fight. I had kind of kept my ears open and when I got that call, I just kind of knew what the details were going to entail.”
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Cormier was forced to pull out of a scheduled light heavyweight title defense against former champ Jon Jones. St. Preux was offered the chance to step in for Cormier to face Jones for the interim belt.
The former Tennessee linebacker, who was just out running errands at the time, immediately accepted and will face Jones in the main event of UFC 197 on April 23 at MGM Grand.
“There was no hesitation,” he said. “It’s a fight my trainers think will be a great matchup for me and they’re usually right about things like that. As long as I stick to my gameplan, everything’s going to go my way.”
That’s probably not as simple as it sounds. Jones, whose only loss was a controversial disqualification against Matt Hamill in 2009, has won 12 consecutive fights and successfully defended his belt eight consecutive times before it was stripped last year due to legal issues.
St. Preux, a plus-400 underdog, knows what he’s up against.
“I’m going to be the guy to pull it off,” he said. “He’s a great fighter. He’ll probably go down as the best light heavyweight ever and maybe the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter ever. The opportunity presented itself and I had to take it. Any fool in my situation would have done the same thing.”
St. Preux, one of the bigger and most athletic fighters in the division, believes he’s ready for the challenge.
He’s won three of his last four fights, including first-round knockouts of Patrick Cummins and former champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
Still, a matchup with Jones on short notice is far from ideal.
St. Preux, however, says there’s no time like the present.
“I always believe things happen for a reason,” he said. “Whether I have three weeks to get ready or three months, when the opportunity presents itself, I have to take it. This happened for a reason and I’m jumping on it.”
One advantage may be catching Jones off a long layoff. He last competed with a unanimous decision over Cormier in January 2015.
St. Preux doesn’t expect the former champion to miss a beat, however.
“You can’t put anything past anyone. A fighter is always a fighter,” he said. “The thing about Jon is mentally he’s always there for all his fights. I just have to make sure that I’m there for the fight too and I know I am.”
Jones claimed to have never seen St. Preux fight before watching scouting film the day after the fight was announced. Obviously, St. Preux can’t say the same.
Jones was the champion from the time the 33-year-old Miami native entered the UFC in 2013 after a successful stint in Strikeforce.
St. Preux, whose younger brother Renan played wide receiver for UNLV, has kept a watchful eye at the top of the division.
“I’ve been a fan. He was the champ for a reason. Look what he’s done for the sport. I’ve definitely been a fan. But it’s one of those things where I’m in the sport myself. While I’ve always been a fan, at the same time I’ve always wanted to fight him because he’s where I want to be. In order for me to get there, I’m going to have to beat him. It’s something I’ve been pretty excited about,” he said. “I’ve watched his fights, but I wasn’t like taking notes on this is what I would do or this is what I wouldn’t do, you know.
“It was more from just a general angle of how I would match up and I get the opportunity to find out now.”
Others have entered fights with a plan against Jones, but none have truly succeeded.
St. Preux hopes to end that trend.
The bout is part of a card that will also feature a flyweight title bout between Henry Cejudo and champion Demetrious Johnson.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj
