Anthony Johnson on bout with Jon Jones: 'I never said okay to the fight'

Anthony Johnson explains the circumstances surrounding his inability to fight Jon Jones at UFC 197.

thony Johnson wants to clear up any misconceptions about why he isn't fighting Jon Jones at UFC 197. When Daniel Cormier was forced out of his title fight with Jones due to an injury, many expected that Rumble would take his place. His teammate Kumaru Usman even stated that Johnson was "ready" to step in. Alas, that was not the case, and the bout went to Ovince Saint Preux instead.

Jones had his own version of events, which he told everyone about on The MMA Hour. He says he was informed by the UFC that Johnson initially accepted the fight, but them backed out by the time Jones had accepted.

In a series of Instagram videos, Johnson discussed all of this at length and delved into the exact reasons he never took the fight (transcribed by MMA Fighting):

"Okay, everybody's hitting me up now, all of my friends, saying that Jon is throwing me under the bus or whatever," Johnson said. "I never accepted the fight with Jon. The UFC hit me up and asked me about it, but they didn't know anything about that I had dental work done. I had four screws put in my jaw, okay? So why would I accept a fight and then say, ‘No, I don't want to fight him?' That's stupid. I have more sense than that. So, either the UFC is telling this man the wrong thing, or somebody's not telling the truth somewhere in between. Because I got told something different and now I'm hearing Jon is being told this. So, I don't know, but it is what it is.

"And I know my teammate Kamaru (Usman) said I was ready, but he didn't know I had, you know, dental work done. He didn't know I had four screws put in my jaw at the time he did that interview because he hadn't seen me, but like maybe twice in the gym, so he was just showing love and support whenever he said I would be ready. He's not supposed to say my teammate hasn't been in the gym, he hasn't been doing anything. No teammate would say that to another teammate if you respect that person. I hope nobody gets it twisted and like I said, it is what it is.

"And I'm only doing these videos because I owe it to the fans, I owe it to everybody, so they can know besides reading and hearing sh*t from other people. You're hearing it from me. I never said 'okay' to the fight. I never said, ‘Yeah.' So, I just want to let you guys know what the deal was and hopefully we get to the bottom of it because something's not right. Him being told that I accepted the fight and I never said it. Like I said, I heard something totally different as far as coming from his camp. I heard other things. Like I said, it is what it is and I hope everybody has a good day."

Here are the videos if you want to check them out.

As stated, Jones will instead fight Ovince Saint Preux for an interim UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 197 on April 23rd.