A lingering hand injury that forced Jon Jones (13-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) out of a planned UFC 133 matchup with former title holder, friend and training partner Rashad Evans (15-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) will not require surgery.Jones was scheduled to go under the knife on Thursday to repair ligament damage in his right hand, but a pre-operation inspection from specialist Dr. James Vahey of the Hand Center of Nevada revealed something initial testing had not: while the champ was certainly suffering from a painful injury, surgery was more of a choice than a requirement.
While the decision to delay surgery until absolutely necessary means Jones will have to fight through the pain for the immediate future, "Bones" decided to rely on his first instinct and avoid the procedure as long as possible.
"He has a torn ligament, and the only way you can actually repair it is by surgery," Jones' manager, Malki Kawa today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "If you're not a fighter or someone who uses his hand, you can just completely leave it alone, and the pain might go away, but you're always going to have that tear there, so the doctors asked us what we wanted to do.
"Initially, Jon didn't want to have surgery. But as we kept getting additional opinions from doctors we all trusted, they all recommended having surgery based on the initial report from the UFC's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Steven Sanders."
Jones' injury dates back to his collegiate wrestling days and has flared up after each successive MMA contest. When pain in the area didn't subside, which it generally has in the past, Jones and his management became concerned. Working with UFC brass, Jones received multiple opinions before electing on surgery.
"The actual thumb itself, the actual ligaments that attach to the knuckles, are torn," Kawa explained. "In between the forefinger in the thumb is some additional damage in those two areas, which is why that area gets so swollen. … Based on the reports, Dr. Vahey also thought surgery was necessary. But when he had Jon in front of him and starting working with his thumb and doing the necessary tests, he determined Jon's range of motion was satisfactory despite the pain. He told Jon, 'Look, your thumb is not 100 percent, but it's close enough that I feel comfortable saying if you don't want surgery, you don't have to have it.'
"At that point, we were facing a decision as to whether we wanted to do the surgery or not. Jon went back to his initial feeling, which is to just gut it out. Jon was prepared to listen to the doctor's advice, but Dr. Sanders told us Dr. Vahey was the best in the business when it comes to hand injuries, and Dr. Vahey told us he thought surgery was a little bit invasive at this point and perhaps too much."
In short, the injury won't be getting any better without surgery, but Jones can return to work faster by avoiding the procedure, and he doesn't necessarily risk further complications by delaying the work.
"When the pain is unbearable and/or he has an issue with the function of his thumb, that's when Jon will have to have surgery," Kawa said. "Right now, to go in and repair the tear in the line of work he's in, the doctor said he'd rather go in when he'd have to as opposed to now.
"It's almost like you have a dent on a car, and in order to fix it, you replace the entire door. The door works, so why tear it apart to fix the issue? Jon's injury is serious. It will not repair itself. But he's willing to fight through the pain for now, and if it ever comes to the point where his hand simply doesn't work anymore, that's when he'll go for the surgery."
Kawa said Jones has been fitted with a removable hard cast and has been asked not to train until June 11. After that, Kawa said the champ hopes to return to action as quickly as possible. Evans may still be the target, provided he proves victorious against replacement opponent Phil Davis at UFC 133, but Kawa said nothing is guaranteed.
"We met with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and let them know we would like to set up a fight to get back in the cage as quickly as possible," Kawa said. "Because of the timing and everything, we don't know yet who that will be. It could very likely still be Rashad if he gets by Phil Davis, but we could fight sooner, maybe September, October or November depending on what the UFC wants to do."
Evans was less than pleased with the latest development in this saga, and he on Friday took to his Twitter account to suggest Jones was faking his injuries.
UFC president White shot down that theory.
"Nobody lies about injuries," White told MMAjunkie.com. "We fly them to Las Vegas to see our doctor."
While it seems some MMA fans and pundits are aiming to put Kawa and Jones at the center of some massive conspiracy theory, the champ's manager insists nothing is afoul. Instead Kawa said he's simply been acting in the best interests of his client, and as doctor's recommendations have changed, so has Jones' decision.
"I've always been a firm believer in letting the fighters do the fighting, the manager do the managing and the doctors do the doctoring," Kawa said. "When the other doctors said he needed surgery, we went with that recommendation. When the best in the business, a guy that deals with these types of injuries everyday, says differently, I have to trust him. Dr. Vahey didn't want to have to drill into the bone, pull a tendon from Jon's wrist in place it in his hand. It was just too invasive at this point.
"Jon never wanted to have surgery in the first place. For a doctor to give him the option, the choice was obvious. Jon wants to get back in the cage and fight three to four times a year from this point forward, and he wants do it as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile, Jones had little to say on the matter, other than that Evans may need to be careful moving forward.
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