Former Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Ovince St. Preux has accepted an invitation to fight Jon “Bones” Jones for the interim Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 197 on April 23rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The announcement came after Daniel Cormier was forced to bow out of the fight with Jones due to injury. Shortly thereafter UFC president Dana White offered St. Preux the opportunity to replace Cormier in the fight and he accepted.
St. Preux has won 3 of his last 4 fights in the UFC and has an overall MMA record of 19-7. He just recently earned a unanimous decision victory over Rafael Cavalcade in February. The fact that St. Preux accepted this fight with less than a month to prepare has earned him praise from the MMA community and fanbase. Even Jon Jones expressed gratitude to. St. Preux on his Twitter account, saying he was “happy he was able to accept the fight on such short notice.”
Jones will likely be the heavy favorite to beat the former Vol. Still, it would bring smiles to the faces of Vol fans everywhere to see St. Preux pull off the upset.
