Less than 24 hours after Daniel Cormier removed himself from his April 23 fight with Jon Jones at UFC 197 because of an injury, the UFC announced Saturday it found a replacement in Ovince St. Preux.
UFC President Dana White said the fight will be for the interim light heavyweight title, per MMAFighting.com. Cormier currently holds the title.
Jeremy Botter of FloSports was the first to report the main event replacement.
Jones (21-1) and St. Preux (19-7) have never fought each other.
In an Instagram post earlier Saturday, Jones urged the UFC to find a substitute—even if it meant the former light heavyweight champion had to take on a heavyweight opponent:
Shortly thereafter, Jones' publicist tweeted Jones would instead be fighting Anthony "Rumble" Johnson but quickly deleted the post and issued an apology for her premature announcement:
Jones avoided jail time after surrendering to a warrant on five charges related to drag racing Thursday, per Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie.
Rashad Evans, who fought Jones at UFC 145 in April 2012, was also rumored to be in the mix as Cormier's replacement, per Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com. Evans, however, is slated to fight against Glover Teixeira on April 16.
The UFC stripped Jones, the former light heavyweight champion, of his title in April 2015 and suspended him for six months for a hit-and-run incident in New Mexico, and Cormier claimed the vacant title.
Cormier and Jones haven’t fought since January 2015, with Jones winning, and the championship rematch between the bitter rivals was highly anticipated. But finding an immediate replacement to ensure the main event will go on is a respectable resolution.
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