Jon Jones on 12-6 ban lifted, Francis Ngannou reveals son's cause of death & Alex Pereira fighting again?
By Amy Kaplan
I'll be breaking down the news from around the combat sports world and giving you my take on it in this new daily column. Check back every morning to see the biggest or most obscure headlines and what I think about them below.
Jon Jones reacts to ABC lifting the ban on 12-6 elbows
This week the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports Committee lifted the ban on 12-6 elbows now making the formerly banned move legal. Jon Jones suffered his only "loss" to Matt Hamil in 2009 when he was disqualified for the move, and now he's reacting to the news.
Jones took to Instagram to share a photo of the fight with the caption, "Undefeated then, undefeated now.. @danawhite we gotta get that loss out of the history books." The thing is ... it should remain a loss and I'm standing by it. If the move was illegal when it was done, he still broke the rules. I could maybe see an exception if the rules were changed within six months or even a year from the fight but it's been more than 10 years since then ... it's time for Jones to move on. It's not like it matters now anyway.
Francis Ngannou has revealed what happened to his infant son
Francis Ngannou suffered the loss of his infant son earlier this year and has finally revealed what happened to Kobe. “He has some malformation on his brain, which is something that we didn’t know,” Ngannou said. “He passed out twice. The first time was in Cameroon, we took him to the hospital. They didn’t find anything. The second time was in [Saudi Arabia], we took him to the hospital.
The loss of a child is unimaginable. Ngannou continues to prove how strong he is by speaking out about the loss and showing other men it's okay to show vulnerability, depression and sadness.
Alex Pereira shared a meme that has confused fans
Alex Pereira shared a meme that implies Dana White has called him for a fight. “Call or not to call,” Pereira wrote on Instagram in Portuguese. Fans have lost their minds with speculation.
Pereira has been known to step up on short notice for fights but hes probably just teasing something in the future. There's no way he could step up to fight at UFC 304 unless the UFC was making a whole new fight. Needless to say, we're watching carefully.