Jon Jones has a fight lined up, but he’s looking to potentially lucrative opportunities in the future.
‘Bones’ will face off with surging knockout artist Thiago Santos in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., July 6, 2019) UFC 239 from Las Vegas. Yet it’s another high-profile fight that has MMA fans and media talking. That’s his awaited trilogy with rival Daniel Cormier, of course. Most fight fans want their third fight to take place at heavyweight. It’s a weight class that is more favorable for current heavyweight titleholder Cormier. Jones knows it and has been noncommittal about finally moving up as a result.
However, he did state he would be willing to do so for the right amount of dollar signs. Jones expanded on that more in a recent discussion with ESPN (via MMA Fighting). The controversial champion noted that his rumored trilogy with “DC” does seem to make the most sense from a financial and fan-based standpoint. He doesn’t understand why because of his previous two victories over Cormier, however:
“That would make the most sense. There’s still a lot of interest in me fighting Daniel Cormier for some reason. I don’t really know what it is. The first time I won by unanimous decision and the second time I won by knockout so I don’t know why people want to see us fight again so bad but at heavyweight. I guess that would add a few different factors. So yeah, if that’s the fight the world wants to see, I know one thing about the UFC, we give the fans what they want.”
Lots Of Work Left At 205 Pounds?
But true to form, Jones stopped short of committing to a heavyweight move full-time. The all-time legend insists there is a new crop of talent at light heavyweight. Those new contenders motivate him to stay atop the 205-pound throne:
“I remember not too long ago people talking about me clearing out the division and that’s nothing I ever believed,” Jones said. “I don’t think it’s possible to clear out a division. There’s always gonna be new talent, new dreamers, new challengers and I look at them as my next round of motivation. These guys are all talented and I think it will be a good test for me to show how great I can be by continuing on my winning ways with this new fresh blood.”
With names like Johnny Walker, Dominick Reyes, and even Aleksandar Rakic rising up quickly at 205, Jones is 100 percent correct that light heavyweight is seeing a sort of resurgence after several dry years. A lot of that drought was due to his one-sided dominance, so it will be extremely interesting to see if this new crop of fighters can buck that trend. They’re certainly more evolved from the previous generation because of the sport’s rapid natural progression.
Should Jon Jones face the new crop at light heavyweight or finally move up to heavyweight?
