Bum toe does not stand in Jones’ way

Complete chaos at the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight division was less than 30 seconds away Saturday night at UFC 159 in Newark, N.J.

Only the aggression of Jon Jones and what might have been a quick stoppage by referee Keith Peterson prevented it.

Champion Jones was as dominant as a 10-1 favorite is expected to be against a challenger coming off a loss in a lighter division. Jones tossed Chael Sonnen around for more than four minutes, causing Peterson to step in with 27 seconds remaining in the first round.

What nobody, including Jones, realized at the time was that the champion had suffered a gruesome compound fracture of his left big toe minutes into the fight.

Had the first round ended and Jones returned to his corner, leaving behind a trail of blood, it is a virtual certainty the fight would have been stopped with Sonnen being awarded a technical knockout victory and the belt.

“That would have been horrible,” UFC president Dana White said.

Even Sonnen didn’t want to entertain the thought of “What if?”

“When I get in there, I just want to know who’s better,” he said in the early morning hours Sunday at Prudential Center. “I want to feel these other guys. I want to see what the hype’s about. And if they’d have called the match right there, I wouldn’t have had any illusions. I knew in those first five minutes who the better fighter is. I got my questions answered tonight.

“I’ve had a lot of fights, and they haven’t all gone my way. But I’ve only been beaten up twice and that was No. 2. And he beat me at my own game. It’s frustrating and it’s tough. That’s it.”

Jones tried to explain how his corner never would have let him lose a fight that way and would have done something to disguise the injury, even if it meant getting out pliers and straightening the toe before the doctors could see the damage. He said he could never allow himself to lose a fight over something as frivolous as a broken toe with the way soldiers put their lives on the line every day.

White shot all of that down, telling Jones there was nothing he could have done about it and Sonnen would have been the new champion.

■ SUPERFIGHT NEAR? — Long-reigning UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva finds himself sandwiched between the other two most dominating and popular champions in the organization.

Georges St. Pierre is one division down at welterweight and Jones is one weight class up at light heavyweight. That proximity, combined with Silva’s complete dominance of the 185-pound division through the years, has created all sorts of speculation and anticipation that one day Silva would fight either, or both, of the champions.

Though Silva is scheduled for a tough title defense against Chris Weidman in July, he apparently is interested in one of the fights.

White said at UFC 159 that Silva had called him after the event and told him he’s ready for one of the fights. White refused to disclose which guy Silva wants to fight, but said he will get to work on putting it together as long as Silva defeats Weidman.

■ UGLY CUSTODY BATTLE — Just days before his UFC 159 victory over Vinny Magalhaes, light heavyweight Phil Davis was the subject of a TMZ story that included claims from his former girlfriend in court documents in their custody battle.

Both parties are seeking full custody and permanent restraining orders, according to the gossip website.

Davis would not comment on the allegations beyond saying it was a “stressful” fight week. White was quick to defend the affable, mild-mannered former Penn State star wrestler.

“I’ve never had a bad incident with Phil. Phil’s always a class guy. He’s always super nice. He’s quiet as can be. And this is a domestic issue over their child. The timing was absolutely timed to hurt him,” White said.

“When I called him, like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ He said, ‘You know what? I have nothing to say. I’m not going to say anything bad about her. We already have a date set in court, and a judge will decide who the fit parent is.’ ”

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.