Jon Jones, the UFC light heavyweight champion and pound-for-pound top fighter in mixed martial arts, has agreed to face Alexander Gustafsson for the second time at UFC 178. He did so reluctantly, however, and had many fans grousing about "Bones" ducking Gustafsson.
The real reason Jon Jones delayed Gustafsson rematch
It may seem odd to consider the top mixed martial artist in the world ducking an opponent, but in their first go-round Gustafsson gave Jones hell. The fight was extremely competitive, and Jones was in real danger for much of it before landing a hard spinning elbow and taking the fifth and final round decisively.
After Gustafsson signed on for this rematch, Jones took his time and made it known he'd rather face Daniel Cormier. The plot thickened then-while some said he was afraid to face Gustafsson again, Cormier actually has the more prestigious resume. He also hasn't been beaten by Jones before.
Cormier will get winner of Jones-Gustafsson?
Now Cormier is defending Jones' honor, even though he didn't get the title shot he craves. "Jon Jones isn't afraid of anybody," Cormier said. "I think that's what we kind of miss in this whole 'he's ducking this guy, he's ducking that guy', Jon Jones isn't ducking anybody. He's the champion of the world for a reason and that's because he's good.
"I think it's posturing more than anything. We don't know his compensation package, we don't know what he makes, what he wants to make, we don't know if his decision was based on they didn't sell as many pay-per-views as he wanted. You don't know. There's so many things that go into those types of things."
Cormier might be greasing the wheels for a future title shot, which seems unnecessary. He destroyed respected veteran Dan Henderson in his last fight, and seems like the surefire No. 1 contender after Jones and Gustafsson finish their business. He's also never lost a round in UFC competition, so perhaps Jones should be thankful he's been forced into the Gustafsson corner one more time.
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