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Jon Jones elects to not have surgery on injured hand

Jones' agent Malki Kawa confirmed the news via Twitter and to NBC Sports Friday.

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MMA Beat
By Ariel Helwani
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 9:36 a.m. ET May 15, 2011

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will not be having surgery on his injured right hand after all.

Jones' agent Malki Kawa confirmed the news via Twitter and to NBC Sports Friday.

According to Kawa, Jones flew to Las Vegas earlier in the week to meet with hand specialist Dr. James Vahey. Jones' surgery was scheduled for Thursday, but after meeting with Dr. Vahey, who was to perform the surgery, on Wednesday, Jones was advised against surgery and told that it would have been too invasive.

So Dr. Vahey placed Jones' right hand in a cast for a month. There is still a chance that Jones will need surgery to correct the injury in the future.

"From the get-go," Kawa said, "Jon was hoping to not have surgery."

Dr. Vahey was the first doctor Jones met with that advised him against surgery to repair the torn ligament in his right hand. According to Kawa, the UFC's primary doctor, Dr. Steven Sanders, as well as doctors in New York and Los Angeles, advised him that surgery would fully correct a lingering injury that had been bothering the light heavyweight champion for years.

Video
  Jon Jones after UFC 128
Jon Jones talks about his new title.

"This is an injury that's been recurring since I was a college wrestler, it doesn't affect my punching or grappling, but I am taking the time and the proper measures to correct this now, so that it doesn't happen again,"Jones said in a statement released last month.

Jones was scheduled to fight his friend-turned-rival Rashad Evans, but the decision to have surgery forced him to pull out of the fight. As a result, Evans agreed to fight Phil Davis at UFC 133 in Philadelphia.

However, despite the fact that Jones will not be having surgery, Evans vs. Davis is still on, according to Kawa, and Jones expects to return to action in the fourth quarter of 2011. Kawa said Jones isn't medically cleared to train before June 11.

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