Sunday 3 April 2016 12:37, UK
Ovince Saint Preux will replace injured light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event at UFC 197 against Jon Jones, the promotion announced on Saturday.
Saint Preux will step in for Cormier in Jones' comeback fight on April 23, with an interim title belt on the line. Cormier (17-1) was forced out of the fight with a lower left leg injury.
Jones previously defeated Cormier via decision in January 2015, but Cormier won the vacant UFC 205-pound belt four months later after the UFC suspended Jones for legal troubles stemming from a car accident in Albuquerque.
Jones was reinstated by the UFC last October. He defended the light heavyweight title eight times before his suspension, establishing himself as the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA.
The 28-year-old Jones took to social media early on Saturday to state his willingness to fight a replacement opponent at either light heavyweight or heavyweight.
"Hey, you all know I'm not into taking last-minute fights, it's not the way me and my trainers do things," said Jones in a post on Instagram. "But this last year's been real crazy and I feel like I owe my fans so much.
"UFC, whether you've got a heavyweight, light heavyweight - doesn't matter. Let's keep this main event going. Send 'em my way."
That marks a change in approach for Jones who famously forced UFC 151 to be cancelled in August 2012 when he refused to fight Chael Sonnen on eight days' notice after his scheduled opponent Dan Henderson was forced to pull out of their title fight due to injury.
At the time, Dana White said: "This is probably one of my all-time lows as being president of UFC."
The fight against Jones represents a huge opportunity for Saint Preux, who is the UFC's number six ranked light heavyweight contender, but one of only two men among the top eight that Jones has yet to beat.
The other is number two ranked contender Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson, who Jones was scheduled to defend his title against at UFC 187 in May 2015 before he was suspended by the UFC.
Johnson appeared to be the natural choice to step in for Cormier but he underwent a dental procedure last week which ruled him out, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com.
