Jon Jones out of UFC 178; title tilt with Cormier moved to early 2015

MANILA, Philippines – Another major blow has hit the UFC 178 pay-per-view as a leg injury forced light heavyweight king Jon Jones to withdraw from his championship clash against Daniel Cormier.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) officials broke the news on Wednesday morning, August 13 (PH Time), confirming the surprising pullout of Jones from the event.

Additional reports indicated that Jones’ ailment also includes a torn meniscus in his knee as well as a sprained ankle

As a result of the unfortunate incident, the title tilt between Jones and Cormier will be moved on January 3, 2015 (January 4 in PH) in the main event of UFC 182, which takes place at a yet-to-be-determined venue in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the second time that the aforementioned fight card was bitten by the injury bug as Jones was originally penciled to square off with Alexander Gustafsson, but the 27-year-old Swedish contender had to turn down that bout after damaging the meniscus joint in his right knee during training.

With Gustafsson sitting on the sidelines for an approximate rehabilitation time from five to six weeks, Cormier gleefully obliged to step in to challenge Jones for the UFC light heavyweight belt.

Jones and Cormier became the center of attention last week when the two fighters engaged in a full-fledged brawl during the UFC 178 media conference at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

Aside from their altercation in public, both men were recorded exchanging threats and profanities during an off-air segment following a recent ESPN interview.

After a whirlwind week of hype for the highly-anticipated encounter, it turned out that the grudge match will have to wait.

Replacing the Jones-Cormier clash in the UFC 178 headliner is the flyweight title tussle between current champion Demetrious Johnson and Filipino-American combatant Chris Cariaso, which was expected to serve as the co-feature attraction of this month’s UFC 177.

Since moving from bantamweight to flyweight, Johnson (20-2-1) has been unbeaten, suffering a dismal draw in his initial 125-pound outing before winning six-straight matches with four successful title defenses.

The 27-year-old “Mighty Mouse” is coming off a five-round drubbing of Dagestani-born Sambo world champion Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174 this past June.

A former 135-pound stalwart like Johnson, Cariaso (17-5) is currently riding high on a three-fight winning streak as a flyweight competitor, thumping the likes of Iliarde Santos, Danny Martinez and one-time Pacific Xtreme Combat (PXC) titlist Louis Smolka.

UFC 178 is set to happen at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 27 (September 28 in PHI). – Rappler.com