A light-heavyweight title clash between current champion Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira has now been made official for UFC 171 in Dallas on March 15th of next year.
Hopefully this time the date sticks as this fight has already been announced twice before, first for UFC 169 and then UFC 170 over the past few weeks, before finally settling on UFC 171.
Jones is looking for his seventh consecutive title defence and is coming off the toughest fight of his career against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 in September which he emerged victorious from, but only by a narrow unanimous decision verdict.
Many people believed Gustafsson had done enough to win and so an immediate rematch was being called for, but Jones opted to fight Teixeira first and promised that if he’d take a fight with the Swede after that.
The timing of the fight is convenient in that regard as Gustafsson will fight just a week earlier at a ‘UFC Fight Night’ event in London against the UK’s Jimi Manuwa, meaning that if he emerges victorious and then Jones defeats Teixeira, it should lead to the rematch immediately being scheduled for later in the year.
Teixeira will be looking to derail the UFC’s plans, however, and with a perfect 5-0 campaign in the UFC to date and a 20 fight unbeaten stretch overall, he poses a clear and present danger to ‘Bones’ Jones.
So far Jones Vs Teixeira is the only fight scheduled for UFC 171, but it’s sure to be one that fans are already circling on their calenders as a must-see event in 2014.
