UFC president Dana White said a light-heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira will not take place at UFC 169 on Super Bowl weekend despite the promotion announcing it would last week.
“That was never, ever a done deal,” White said on a conference call Monday. “That’s going to be later. That was never a done deal. Our (public relations) people put it out, and they shouldn’t have.”
White explained the bout would likely take place sometime in March because “the timing didn’t work out” for the Super Bowl card.
Jones (19-1) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 in Toronto in September in what is considered by many to be the frontrunner for Fight of the Year in 2013.
Teixeira (22-2) is unbeaten in the UFC and coming off a knockout win over Ryan Bader.
Following UFC 165, many fans thought an immediate rematch between Jones and Gustafsson was warranted since it was such a competitive fight — some scoring the fight for Gustafsson — but Teixeira’s win over Bader was enough to guarantee the Brazilian a title shot.
White added that the UFC plans for Gustafsson to fight a yet-to-be-determined opponent in either Sweden or England around the same time Jones and Teixeira meet. If both Gustafsson and Jones are victorious in their next outings White added “they 100 per cent will fight next.”
UFC 169 takes place on Feb. 1 at the Prudential Center in New Jersey; the only fight currently scheduled for the event is a heavyweight matchup between stars Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem.
