Skip to main content

Chael Sonnen doubts Jon Jones will have speedy recovery after tearing pectoral tendon

Chael Sonnen believes UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones could need more than eight months to recover.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) was forced out of his first title defense against Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) at UFC 295 after sustaining a torn pectoral tendon that requires surgery.

In the meantime, the UFC opted to book an interim title fight between Sergei Pavlovich (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Tom Aspinall (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), which co-headlines the Nov. 11 card at Madison Square Garden in New York. White said Jones needs about eight months to heal, but Sonnen thinks that as long as he’s in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug testing pool, which remains the UFC’s partner until the end of the year, that timeframe is unlikely.

“Jon Jones, don’t forget they took all his needles, all the good stuff, so that’s going to be a very hard recovery at this age,” Sonnen told The MacLife. “This is a guy that’s already sat for three years. This is a guy that hasn’t taken good care of himself. I wish Jon the best. I don’t want to kick him while he’s down. I’m trying to be very realistic about this scenario, and I think Jon can handle the business from me.

“Jon Jones is going to be out eight months in the best-case scenario. That’s going to put him at 37 years old to preserve a fight with what will then be a 42-and-a-half-year-old.”

Sonnen sees Pavlovich vs. Aspinall as the real title fight. With both Jones and Miocic’s recent inactivity, Sonnen says no one will be clamoring to see their fight once it’s rebooked.

“If we get down the road, eight months, which is the best-case scenario – I mean, don’t forget this is a bad shoulder injury,” Sonnen said. “Jon Jones is 36 years old. He’s going to be 37. They took his growth hormone and his testosterone away. This isn’t like the olden days where he can heal himself in record time. If he stays within the USADA pool, if it’s eight months, it’s going to be the full eight months.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/6srKiDA
via IFTTT
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

'Salsa Boy': The hilarious story behind UFC heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta's nickname

Waldo Cortes-Acosta ’s “Salsa Boy” nickname was not self-appointed – like every proper nickname should be. His curious fight nickname was earned and given by his teammates after a spicy story behind his cooking, not his dancing. Cortes-Acosta (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC), who fights in the UFC’s heavyweight division, hosted a party years ago at which he invited his friends and teammates from Ultimate Kombat Training Center in Arizona. “I dance well, yeah – but the nickname actually came from salsa I made for a party,” Cortes-Acosta told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “There were guys from Nicaragua, Mexico, Brazil, Colombians – all over the place.” Training with many Hispanic people, especially those from Central America, Cortes-Acosta knew he had to show out with the salsa given the high standards and high tolerance for spicy food at the party – and he might’ve gotten a bit overboard. “A friend of mine, who we call ‘El Chimmy,’ and he already fought in the UFC, tried the sauce, and before he was ...
Read more

Max Holloway recalls near-nudity 'towelgate incident' with Justin Gaethje: 'I guess that's the whole beef'

One of the most exciting fights on the  UFC 300 lineup is the BMF title fight between Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje, and it’s one that doesn’t have any bad blood boiling over. Or has Holloway been holding onto a grudge since 2017? At the UFC 218 official weigh-ins, Gaethje nearly exposed Holloway’s genitals to the world after volunteering to hold the towel for the former champion who needed to strip down to make championship weight for his fight against Jose Aldo. Gaethje raised the towel in front of the scale, making it impossible to see the weight. The commissioner told Gaethje the towel needed to be placed between the scale and Holloway. An executive decision was made by Gaethje to save time. Rather than have Holloway put his clothes back on, move the towel, and get undressed again, Gaethje saw a quicker solution – and one that likely played into his favor as he was weighing in right after Holloway. “He even told me, he was like, ‘Brother, it just looked like you want...
Read more

Paul Felder: The fight itch is strong, thanks to UFC 300 and Jim Miller

LAS VEGAS – Paul Felder gave an inch to the idea of another UFC fight – and the universe is taking a mile. When Felder (17-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) reentered the promotion’s anti-doping test pool , Jim Miller (37-17 MMA, 26-16 UFC) was on his mind. After Miller’s submission win and post-fight callout Saturday at UFC Fight Night 234 , Felder has all but committed to fighting once more, at UFC 300 . “When I saw ‘Korean Zombie’ (Chan Sung Jung) have that walkout and I got inspired to potentially get back into the pool and do all this sort of stuff, anybody who knows me or talked to me, you knew Jim was the name,” Felder told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a news conference Saturday. “I was like, ‘If I’m going to do it, I want it to be against a guy like Jim, somebody around my age, who’s been in the game for a long time.’ I’m not trying to come back and make a run for the belt or anything like that.” Felder did not utter the words “I’m coming back” when he spoke Saturday at the UFC Apex,...
Read more