Jon Jones to defend title against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187
Jon Jones will defend his light heavyweight title against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 on May 23 in Las Vegas.
The bout will headline a pay-per-view event at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Jones (21-1) has won 12 consecutive fights and eight title defenses, the last coming in an unanimous decision against Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 last month. After the fight, it was announced that Jones, 27, had tested positive for cocaine in a drug test administered Dec. 4 by the Nevada Athletic Commission. The commission said Jones was allowed to continue competing because benzoylecgonine, the chemical compound the body produces from metabolizing cocaine and that Jones tested positive for, is not banned out of competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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Jones, UFC's top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, later briefly entered a rehab facility. UFC fined him $25,000 for the failed test.
Johnson (19-4) last defeated Alexander Gustafsson in an upset, first-round knockout in Sweden on Jan. 24. The 30-year-old fighter is 7-0 fighting at light heavyweight.
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The co-main event of the Memorial Day weekend event will be a middleweight title bout between Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman. Weidman, 30, will go for his fourth straight title defense against Belfort, 37, who has won three consecutive fights after losing to Jones in September 2012.
UFC 187 will also feature a lightweight bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov (22-0) and Donald Cerrone (27-6).
- Mike Fiammetta
