UFC President Dana White Says Jones Vs. Teixeira Not Headlining UFC 169
UFC president Dana White shot down a recent report that Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira would headline UFC 169 on February 1.
It was initially reported that Jones and Teixeira would meet in the main event of the promotion’s annual Super Bowl card but, according to Bloody Elbow‘s Mookie Alexander, White said on a media call Monday that the fight would not take place that weekend.
“Jones-Teixeira is not happening on Super Bowl, that was never a done deal,” White said. “It’s later in the year.”
White said the fight would most likely be scheduled for March. Right now, the only fight that is officially taking place at UFC 169 is a heavyweight match between Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem. The bout was originally scheduled for UFC 167, but the promotion moved the match to give Mir more time to recover from his knockout loss to Josh Barnett at UFC 164 on August 31.
“While there was no indication whatsoever that Mir wouldn’t be fully, medically cleared in time to compete on November 16th, UFC officials and Nevada Commission representatives believed that a short postponement would allow both athletes more time to train for the bout,” the UFC said in a statement to Newsday.
White told MMA Fighting‘s Ariel Helwani that a preliminary bout between Josh Koscheck and Tyron Woodley will replace Mir vs. Overeem on UFC 167’s PPV lineup. Koscheck is coming off back-to-back losses to Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks, while Woodley claimed a KO victory over Jay Hieron in February at UFC 156 before losing to Jake Shields by split decision at UFC 161 in June.
Jon Jones recently defended his title against Alexander Gustafsson in a controversial unanimous decision victory at UFC 165. The 26-year-old passed Tito Ortiz for the most consecutive title defenses of the light heavyweight championship with six victories. The bout earned Jones and Gustafsson Fight of the Night.
Glover Teixeira defeated Ryan Bader by TKO at UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Bader on September 4. The 33-year-old Brazilian hasn’t lost a fight since 2005.
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