Yesterday evening, we learned that Daniel Cormier is replacing an injured Alexander Gustafsson in his fight with Jon Jones. Surprise, we are being treated to what might as well be deemed an MMA Superfight.
An hour later, Jonny Bones was marching down a sidewalk and throwing a gym bag into the bed of his custom Roush Ford Raptor.
“You know what, folks?” he asks rhetorically in his Instagram video.
“I was going to be done training for today. But uh, things just got even more real. So I’m gonna go put one more in for today. I just got some more motivation. Some newfound motivation.”
Less than a week ago, Bones turned 27, and the replacement was a belated birthday present of sorts.
“This is the fight I wanted in the first place,” he tweeted.
“Nothing like fresh meat.”
But as inspiring as it is to watch Jones turn off Big Brother and head back to the gym, he may want to hold on to his gift receipt. 2008 Olympic wrestling champion Cormier is undefeated in mixed martial arts, and he’s incredibly well-rounded. In his light-heavyweight debut, he knocked the bejesus out of Patrick Cummins just over a minute into R1, and he submitted Dan Henderson with a rear naked choke in May.
Still, a late-shift-working Jones should be favored. Especially considering Cormier was debating knee surgery just last month. But according to UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, the knee healed through rest and rehabilitation.
Hopefully that’s true, and we get the fight we’ve been waiting for: two guys at the peaks of their respective careers, four healthy knees, and at least one totally badass truck that will be burning through a little more gasoline on the road to September 27th.