Big shadow looms over fight
MMA: Fighters are battling for respect as former champ deals with his legal woes
Jon Jones may no longer be competing at UFC 187 next week, but the shadow of the embattled former light heavyweight champion undeniably hovers over the Las Vegas event.
Originally scheduled to face Anthony Johnson in the May 23 main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Jones was pulled from the bout, stripped of his title and suspended indefinitely following an early morning hit-and-run in Albuquerque on April 26.
With Jones now removed from the card, Johnson (19-4, 10-4 UFC) will now face the former champion’s most recent challenger, Daniel Cormier (15-1, 4-1 UFC), in a bout for the vacant light heavyweight title.
“He casts such a big shadow on the division,” Cormier said this week of Jones. “So any time this weight class is going to be discussed, there’s going to be some mention of Jon Jones.”
“It does get a little annoying because it’s like people aren’t showing the respect Daniel and I deserve,” added Johnson. “It’s almost like they see us like some chumps or something like that, you know what I mean?”
Saturday’s combatants can look at the welterweight division and the respect Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler earned when they were in a similar position last year.
The duo first met at UFC 171 in a battle for the vacant welterweight title after reigning champion Georges St-Pierre announced he was taking a sabbatical from the sport.
Hendricks and Lawler stepped into the Octagon and delivered a Fight of the Year-calibre performance and left no room for talk of “paper champions.” Even though St-Pierre remains a frequent subject of speculation, no one looks at Lawler as anything other than the current UFC welterweight champion.
The one difference, however, is that many pundits believed Hendricks beat St-Pierre when the two fought four months earlier at UFC 167, and that the French-Canadian superstar was showing signs of decline.
The same can’t be said about Jones, leaving Cormier and Johnson in a position where they have to make the case for their bout being a legitimate light heavyweight title fight, while also acknowledging that Jones’s absence does change things.
“Anthony and I are the two guys that are fighting for this belt and realistically it should be for the belt,” said Cormier. “Anthony has blasted everybody he’s fought, and I only lost one fight to the No. 1 guy in the world. So we are where we’re supposed to be.
“Would it help to beat Jones? Yes, but under the circumstances I’m not sure it would do that much to change public perception, because I believe people believe what they want to believe and it doesn’t matter what you do.”
“At the end of the day, I’m going to just be me,” said Johnson, who is 3-0 since returning to the UFC and 8-0 overall since joining the light heavyweight ranks. “I don’t care. Whatever happens, happens. I really have no feelings about it, I guess. That’s just how I am right now because I’m so focused on the fight.”
It’s a strange situation, and one that is only bound to get more interesting as Fight Week opens in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Though Jones won’t be in attendance, he’ll be a popular topic of conversation — and his presence will very much be felt.