UFC fans who are counting down the days to see Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier will have to wait a little bit longer.
The company announced on Tuesday that the light heavyweight champion suffered a leg injury. As a result, the title fight between Jones and Cormier has been moved from UFC 178 to UFC 182:
BREAKING NEWS: Jones out of #UFC178 w/ leg injury. Jones vs Cormier moves to #UFC182. @MightyMouseUFC vs @chriscariasomma moves to #UFC178.
— UFC (@ufc) August 12, 2014
According to Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter, Jones has a sprained ankle and a torn meniscus:
Jones has a torn meniscus and a sprained ankle.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) August 12, 2014
Cormier wondered whether the champion could've fought through the injuries, per MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani:
It's very disappointing. I started to train very hard. It's a little discouraging, but now I have time to get completely healthy. I don't know how hurt Jon is but we have to remember that I took this fight with a pre-existing injury. I could have fought through it, I just wish he would have done the same.
Given the hype surrounding this bout, it's a bit of a shame that it's been pushed back to January 2015, though it's easy to understand the reasons for doing so.
The converse is that allowing Jones to recover will ensure that both fighters are at 100 percent by the time the pay-per-view rolls around. With a fight of this magnitude, you want both competitors to be at their very best when they enter the Octagon.
