Coach: Jones likely won’t take a short-notice fight again
Jones cited fighting a late-replacement opponent as one reason and his wrestling coach Israel Martinez echoed that idea in an interview with Brian Stann.
Although Jon Jones won all five rounds in his UFC 197 bout with Ovince Saint Preux, he was critical of himself for not getting the finish and being tentative throughout the fight. Jones cited fighting a late-replacement opponent as one reason and his wrestling coach Israel Martinez echoed that idea in an interview with Brian Stann:
“We were okay with him taking the fight but I don’t think Jon Jones will ever take a short-notice fight again because there are too many variables that we didn’t prepare for.” Martinez told Brian Stann on his SiriusXM radio show Toe-to-Toe. “When you’re so focused on one person, and then you get a different person, you know it’s tough.”
Martinez would go on to explain the difficulties in the switch to Saint Preux, who fights southpaw.
“We were anticipating an orthodox fighter with Daniel Cormier. Then all of a sudden with three weeks left we’re going for a southpaw fighter. Then when we get to the fight, OSP’s fighting us in orthodox! So I think that played a little bit of a factor with Jon because Jon was so focused on preparing for orthodox Cormier to a southpaw, then all of a sudden [Saint Preux] is coming out orthodox.”
