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Jon Jones set for October return from surgery

Jon Jones wanted to fight Rashad Evans through the pain barrier © Getty Images

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Jon Jones is eyeing an October return from hand surgery, according to manager Malki Kawa.

Jones had to call off his UFC light-heavyweight encounter with Rashad Evans due to a torn ligament in his right hand. He will now undergo surgery, with Evans taking a sideways step to face unbeaten prospect Phil Davis.

Kawa understands why Evans did not wait for Jones to recover, having paid the price for staying inactive in the past when he awaited Mauricio Shogun Rua's return, only to then pick up an injury himself. However, Kawa is confident Jones will be back fighting before the end of the year.

"We're hoping he'll be back as soon as October or November," Kawa told MMA Junkie. "Whether it's Rashad or anybody else, Jon is ready to get back to work. He just needs to be healthy to do it.

"With Rashad being out as long as he has, that's not really fair for the UFC to tell him, 'Jon is hurt. He may need a month to recover, he may need three months to recover. We're not really sure. Maybe you can fight in September, maybe December.' It just doesn't make sense. Rashad needs to fight."

Jones has had the hand problem throughout his MMA career, and Kawa revealed the champion was ready to fight through the pain barrier in order to take on Evans.

"Jon wanted to fight the fight with a torn ligament, but I was completely against it," Kawa said. "We called a bunch of doctors all across the country, and all the doctors confirmed the same thing: If he's got a torn ligament in his hand, then he needs surgery or it will not heal correctly. At 23 years old, Jon is talking about taking cortisone shots and trying to deal with it as best as he could without really repairing it.

"It's not like this fight is next month. If that was the case, maybe he could push through it. We're talking about a full training camp and then a very tough fight with Rashad Evans. I was against it. Doctors were against it. Every doctor we spoke to said the only thing that could happen is the injury could get worse. There's no way it was going to get better, so there was no upside to staying in this fight.

"It took a lot of convincing, but Jon finally realized he has to consider his long-term career not just one fight right now."

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