UFC on Fox 31 - Lee vs. Iaquinta 2 --- UFC Fight Night 143 - Cejudo vs. Dillashaw
UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will be held on December 29, 2018 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, United States.
Fight card
Main Card
Light Heavyweight Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Women's Featherweight Cris Cyborg (c) vs. Amanda Nunes For the UFC Women's Featherweight Championship
Welterweight Carlos Condit vs. Michael Chiesa
Light Heavyweight Ilir Latifi vs. Corey Anderson
Featherweight Chad Mendes vs. Alexander Volkanovski
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Heavyweight Andrei Arlovski vs. Walt Harris
Women's Featherweight Cat Zingano vs. Megan Anderson
Bantamweight Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Petr Yan
Lightweight BJ Penn vs. Ryan Hall
Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Bantamweight Andre Ewell vs. Nathaniel Wood
Middleweight Uriah Hall vs. Bevon Lewis
Welterweight Curtis Millender vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
Bantamweight Brian Kelleher vs. Montel Jackson
Background
A UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between former champion Jon Jones and former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson is expected to headline this event. As the current divisional champion Daniel Cormier is focusing on defending his UFC Heavyweight Championship, the promotion has indicated that he would be stripped of his title and that the winner of the proposed Jones/Gustafsson bout would become the undisputed champion. Jones and Gustafsson have fought previously in September of 2013 at UFC 165 with Jones defending his title by unanimous decision. The rematch was previously booked to headline UFC 178 in September of 2014, but the pairing was scrapped after Gustafsson tore his right meniscus and lateral collateral ligament.
A UFC Women's Featherweight Championship bout between current champion Cris Cyborg (who is also a former Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Champion and Invicta FC Featherweight Champion) and current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes is expected to take place at the event. If successful, Nunes will become the first woman to be champion in two divisions simultaneously and third fighter overall (after Conor McGregor at UFC 205 and Daniel Cormier at UFC 226), as well as the sixth person overall to win a title in different divisions. This will be the fourth time in UFC history that champions in different divisions fight for the same title, following UFC 94, UFC 205 and UFC 226.
A women's flyweight bout between Sijara Eubanks and Jessica Eye was expected to take place at this event, but Eubanks was pulled from the bout on October 2 in favor of a headliner for the vacant UFC Women's Flyweight Championship against former UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship challenger Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 230. However, that fight was canceled a week later. Eubanks remained on the card at UFC 230 and fought against former title challenger Roxanne Modafferi, while Eye found a new opponent at UFC 231.
Tom Duquesnoy was expected to face Nathaniel Wood at the event. However, Duquesnoy pulled out of the fight on November 12 citing a rib injury. Wood is now expected to face Andre Ewell.
A bantamweight bout between Brian Kelleher and Montel Jackson was initially slated to take place at UFC 230. However the fight was cancelled on the day of the event due to a medical issue for Kelleher and was rescheduled for this event.
Jon Jones drug test controversy
The event was originally expected to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area. However on December 23, the event was moved to The Forum in Inglewood, California due to a Jones drug testing abnormality stemming from earlier this month. The test found a trace amount of turinabol, in Jones' system. That's the same substance he tested positive for in 2017 that led to the 15-month suspension he recently was cleared from in order to fight this week. Because the Nevada State Athletic Commission does not have proper time to investigate in order to keep Jones cleared to fight in Las Vegas, the UFC decided to move the entire event to Inglewood as the California State Athletic Commission will grant Jones a license. UFC VP of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky said USADA, in consultation with other organizations, believes the test is a "pulsing" effect and not a new ingestion of the substance that he tested positive for after UFC 214 in July 2017.
Dec 24 - Updated location, fight card & background
Dec 25 - Updated background
