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The UFC suffered a massive blow on Tuesday night when it announced that heavyweight champion Jon Jones suffered a torn pec.
The injury meant Jones had to pull out of his UFC 295 headlining fight against Stipe Miocic.
But rather than give Miocic a new opponent for an interim title, the UFC took him off the card altogether.
Instead, the light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira is the new main event.
Some fans felt this was unfair for Miocic, a former two-time UFC heavyweight champ in his own right. But UFC president Dana White believes it’s the exact opposite.
“Stipe’s not fighting for an interim title,” White said at the Power Slap 5 post-fight press conference. “Jones said, ‘I want to fight Stipe.’ I said, ‘You’re fighting Stipe.’ This is — you have the greatest heavyweight of all time vs. the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. This is a legacy fight for both of those guys.
“To even call Stipe and ask Stipe to fight for an interim title is complete disrespect. This is a fight for two legends, legacy, two of the greatest to ever do it, fans want to see it, I want to see it, and they both want to do it.”
White did not, however, address what’s next for Miocic or the heavyweight division.
The average recovery time for a torn pec is around six months, and that’s before any fight camp could even begin.
“Jon called, had said that he hurt his shoulder training and wrestling,” White said of the injury. “His team thought that you just need a few days off and you’ll be fine and whatever. He felt like something was really wrong, flew out here, did the MRI, and found out what was wrong and he was super emotional about it. Really upset and you know, we did what we do and flipped it and made another fight.”