Mike Winkeljohn, one of the top coaches for UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones revealed in a recent interview that “Bones” suffered a serious injury days before UFC 214.
Jones would go on to defeat Daniel Cormier and win back the title, but Winkeljohn told Submission Radio that he was less than 100 percent.
“A couple of nights before the fight, he couldn’t lift his arm,” Winklejohn said. “He hurt it wrestling. He wrestled a little too hard with his partner. It was one of those situations where when I was warming him up I’d ask the coaches and they had agreed, they were ahead of me on this, that we shouldn’t be doing a lot wrestling because I didn’t want Jon to try and have to underhook and lift with his one arm because it could potentially cause it to be hurt again and mess with his mindset.
“I wanted to keep that out of it and hopefully so that way if it got re-injured in the fight, the adrenaline would take over. It was kind of scary that nobody knew about it, but Jon is who he is; he’s as tough as they come and nobody beats Jon Jones but himself.”
Winklejohn admitted the injury likely bothered him more than it did Jones, saying “There’s a lot of things going through the coaches minds. (Jones) basically didn’t say another other than he’s fighting.”
Dr. Beau Hightower, the director of sports medicine for Jackson-Wink MMA, confirmed the injury on social media:
Jon sprained shoulder badly Wednesday night. Thursday morning he couldn't raise his arm. Treated it 2x. He finished the Fight with that arm. https://t.co/VrnFSQ2JLA
— Dr. Beau Hightower (@DrBeauHightower) August 11, 2017
