Jon Jones defends Ovince Saint Preux from doubters

Since Daniel Cormier was forced out of his scheduled UFC 197 title defense, some have criticized the UFC for booking an interim light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Ovince Saint Preux in the main event of UFC 197.

Despite Saint Preux’s impressive 7-2 record that has seen him stop 5 opponents in 5 of his 7 wins, many are overlooking the #6 ranked light heavyweight, but Jon Jones isn’t.

He spoke to Fox Sports:

“I’m definitely not looking at Ovince as a tune up fight,” Jones told FOX Sports on Monday. “I’m looking at him as a different challenge. One that should be respected. He’s a young fighter in the sport and he has the opportunity of a lifetime ahead of him.

“I’m sure he’s going to give it all he’s got to capitalize on that and do something with it.”

Another interesting bit of info that emerged recently was that Yoel Romero was in Albuquerque helping Jones prepare for his fight. Jones explained why, saying:

“I just flew in Yoel Romero to help me with the camp,” Jones said. “There are a lot of similarities there, he has a very unorthodox striking game, Yoel’s very strong just like Ovince and he’s a southpaw just like Ovince.

“So we’re taking him very seriously. We’ve already had two coaches’ meetings to discuss what we need to do with tactics and strategy alterations we need to take, so we’re taking him very seriously.”