A shocking injury just a couple of weeks before he was set to return to action has forced Jon Jones out of the main event of UFC 295 on Nov. 11.
Just a few weeks ago, UFC President Dana White had to revise the top of the UFC 294 card due to injuries to lightweight title challenger Charles Oliveira and middleweight Paulo Costa. Unfortunately, he is in a similar position for the company’s next pay-per-view offering in November.
Related: Jon Jones is the best UFC fighter of all time – Explaining why ‘Bones’ is the obvious UFC GOAT
Late on Tuesday night, Dana White revealed in a post on his X — formerly Twitter — account that Jones would not compete at the upcoming event due to a very serious injury while training Monday night for his heavyweight title fight versus Stipe Miocic.
“Jon Jones was training last night, got injured, he was wrestling and he tore the tendon that connects your pec to the bone — off the bone,” he said. “[He will be out] eight months, going to need surgery.”
The bout was set to be “Bones'” second fight back after three years away from the sport and his first title defense as heavyweight champion. White also revealed the matchup that will replace the planned main event and it surprisingly won’t include Miocic.
Jon Jones injury leads to a completely new heavyweight title fight at UFC 295
With Jones unavailable, the UFC president revealed that the co-main event light heavyweight title matchup between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira will now be elevated to the main event.
“Denisa” is returning from a major injury and attempting to regain the title he never lost while Pereira will be competing to be the latest two-division champion in UFC history after winning the middleweight title last year.
Another major surprise from the news is that Miocic will not remain on the card to face a top contender on short notice. Instead, top-five-ranked heavyweights Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich will face off for the interim heavyweight title on Nov. 11.
Below is the new order for the top five fights at UFC 295 next month.
UFC 295 card (revised)
- Jiří Procházka vs. Alex Pereira – light heavyweight title fight
- Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall – interim heavyweight title fight
- Jéssica Andrade vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Matt Schnell vs. Steve Erceg
- Matt Frevola vs. Benoit Saint-Denis