It’s official – a light-heavyweight title rematch between current champion Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones will now headline UFC 200 on July 9th in Las Vegas.
The fight was announced during a special ‘UFC takeover’ on ABC’s high-profile ‘Good Morning America’ show, with Jones and Cormier joining the likes of Miesha Tate, Chuck Liddell, Frankie Edgar, Paige VanZant and UFC president Dana White to promote the event.
With this bout confirmed it means that there’s now a total of three, 25-minute title fights scheduled for the main card of this star-studded show, as Miesha Tate is also set to defend her bantamweight belt for the first time against Amanda Nunes, while Frankie Edgar will fight Jose Aldo for the interim featherweight strap.
The UFC had originally intended to lead with a rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz as the main event, but that plan was scrapped after the company refused to give in to the Irish superstar’s demands that he be allowed to skip some of the major promotional activities they had planned this month.
After that, Jones Vs Cormier looked like being the only other option that would work as the headliner given that Ronda Rousey doesn’t want to return until late in the year, and Georges St.Pierre has still to fully commit to a comeback.
Jones Vs Cormier II is a worthy fight for an occasion like UFC 200, but there’s no doubt that there just won’t be the same buzz surround the show and potential to break PPV records as there would have been had they still had McGregor on-board.
