UFC 295: Jon Jones Out, New Headliner & Interim Title Bout Set
Jon Jones has pulled out of the main event of UFC 295 PPV event, which has forced UFC to make significant changes to the fight card.
UFC President Dana White took to social media late on Tuesday night to announce that UFC 295 had dealt a major blow just 17 days before the event. He played a video of Jon Jones in training last night, where he suffered a torn pectoral muscle injury.
White said Jones would be out upto 8 months due to injury and therefore, is out of UFC 295. Jones was supposed to defend UFC Heavyweight Championship against Stipe Miocic in a highly anticipated clash.
BREAKING NEWS…………… Sergei Pavlovich vs Tom Aspinall for the Interim Heavyweight Championship. Main Event is Jiri Prochazka vs Alex Pereira. #UFC295 is LIVE at MSG on ESPN+ PPV pic.twitter.com/SaPAwpyHi2
— danawhite (@danawhite) October 25, 2023
With the main event scrapped, White announced that the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira would be the new headliner bout. It was earlier the co-main event. Prochazka is a former light heavyweight champion who also relinquished the title due to an injury last year. Pereira is a former middleweight champion.
White also revealed that interim heavyweight title is being introduced in Jones’ absence. Serghei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall, ranked at #2 and #4 respectively in UFC heavyweight rankings, will clash in the co-main event of UFC 295 for the interim title. Pavlovich was earlier announced as the back up fighter for UFC 295 heavyweight title fight.
Pavlovich is on a 6-fight knockout win streak, all of which have come in the first round. In his last three fights, Pavlovich has beaten Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes. Pavlovich suffered a defeat in his UFC debut against Aleister Overeem.
Aspinall’s 6 wins in UFC have also come via knockouts, and only one of those went past the first round. He has one loss in UFC so far, which came against Curtis Blaydes due to an injury in July 2022.
UFC 295 is set to take place on November 11, 2023, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Keep tuned in for the latest updates from the event.
