Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones suffered a pectoral injury and was forced to pull out of a title defense against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 295.
An interim heavyweight champion will now be crowned at UFC 295, but former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub believes the promotion should’ve just stripped Jones of his title.
“UFC missed the boat on this a little bit not stripping him of the belt,” Schaub said on his YouTube channel (transcript via Danny Segura of MMA Junkie). “When he beat Ciryl Gane, he’s the heavyweight champ. When your champ is out at least a year with this injury, there should not be an interim title fight. It should just be the vacant belt.”
Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall will be fighting for the aforementioned interim heavyweight title in the co-main event of UFC 295.
Schaub also believes that Jones will be out for longer than the eight months that most people believe he’ll be out for.
“Jon Jones tore his pec, and I don’t mean like a slight tear,” Schaub said. “They’re saying he tore his peck off the bone. If you know anything about these injuries, which I do – I’ve had pec issues. I’ve had many friends who were professional athletes who have torn their pec, and when it’s completely torn off the bone, this is not a fast turnaround time.
“The UFC said minimum eight months. Minimum. That’s assuming he has surgery, they have to open up and reattach that muscle to the bone. There’s a lot that goes into a torn pec, so I assume he’s out probably a year. Jon Jones probably isn’t fighting for probably a year. He’s not getting any younger.”
