Jon Jones is likely next for the UFC heavyweight title, but to him, it does matter who he faces.
Jon Jones is heading for his heavyweight debut. He has spent the last year or more getting ready to make this transition. Finally, it seems he is closer than he has ever been to accepting a fight at the heaviest weight class, but for him, only a title fight will do.
“Yeah, fighting for the title’s what I want the most,” Jones said to reporters in a media scrum. “Yeah, for sure. I want to fight the biggest fights, and I think the title fights is gonna be the biggest fights. If there were a bigger star than Francis at heavyweight that didn’t have the title, then I would go for that. But I think Francis is the biggest star at heavyweight, him and I, and he has the title. So that’s what I want.”
Jones has been promising this move to heavyweight for a while now. One thing that has kept him on the sidelines was unsuccessful negotiations with the UFC. Jones has been very vocal about wanting to be compensated well for a fight with Ngannou. That fight would have happened already but now there is an interim champion in town.
Ciryl Gane will get the next show at the champ, with Jones most likely facing the winner. In that case, Jones would prefer Ngannou as an opponent for financial reasons.
“I think it changes what the pay would be,” Jones said of a potential Gane victory. “Yeah, I don’t think it’s a megafight, Ciryl Gane winning. I think he’s’ so talented, and he’s great for the sport, I think he’s very marketable, but he’s still relatively unknown to the general public. And so I’m excited for either challenge. I think they present two completely different puzzles. But yeah, Francis is definitely a bigger star. It’d be a lot of money lost if Francis were to lose. But I don’t care who wins the fight. I just want the championship.”
These comments from Jones were made the very same night as his latest run-in with the law, for which he is due to appear in court this week.
Do you think the fans will ever see Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones?
