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The latest information about UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was fueling new superfight rumors headed into Saturday’s massive heavyweight showdown at UFC 252 between heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. By the time the fight was over, Jones had helped fuel more of the rumors himself via his social media posts.
“I’ll be too strong when the time is right and have way too much energy,” Jones posted after seeing Miocic defeat Cormier at UFC 252. “Soon and very soon I’ll be considered the baddest man on this planet.”
Before that, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto had revealed a stunning update on Thursday about the status of Jones competing in the UFC.
According to Okamoto, UFC president Dana White said he expected there to be a fight for the UFC’s 205-pound title later this year with or without Jones, and the company was only waiting to hear back from Jones about what he planned to do next.
Judging by all his tweets on Saturday night, it would seem that decision is now made.
Okamoto posted, “Dana White just told me there WILL be another light heavyweight title fight before the end of 2020. He said he’s actually waiting to hear back from Jon Jones today, regarding what will happen with the division.”
Jones Could Be Moving to Heavyweight for Title Fight
Jones announced on social media back in June that he intended to vacate his light heavyweight title belt and sit out for a year or longer after failed negotiations occurred between the UFC’s pound-for-pound king and the promotional company about a move up to the heavyweight division.
In short, Jones wanted to challenge himself by taking on heavyweight monster Francis Ngannou, but he expected to be paid more for the fight than his standard rate. When that idea was shot down by White, Jones decided to sit out the rest of 2020 and possibly forever.
But now it seems Jones has continued his talks with White about what comes next in his career, so fans and media have begun to speculate that Jones might be on his way back to action.
More fuel to the fire is that the UFC never honored Jones’ request to vacate his title belt at 205 pounds and that it didn’t remove him from its official rankings.
The post that sent everything into a blazing fire of course was Jones plainly stating via social media on Saturday night that he wants to fight for the UFC heavyweight championship “real soon”.
2 Bigger Fights Than Jones vs. Ngannou
While Jones made it clear he would like to fight Ngannou earlier this year, it’s also reasonable to suggest that Jones vs. the winner of UFC 252: Miocic vs. Cormier 3 would be a much bigger and better matchup anyway.
That would have worked even if Cormier had won.
While Jones had already defeated Cormier twice at light heavyweight (one win was overturned to a no-contest after a failed drug test by Jones), Cormier confessed to Heavy earlier in the week that he wasn’t completely against the idea of facing Jones again if he was offered a huge sum of money to do it.
Keep in mind that Cormier had been calling UFC 252 his retirement fight, so that was a big admission.
But Miocic won the fight and would also seem to be the better matchup for Jones.
While Miocic doesn’t have the longstanding rivalry Jones had with Cormier, he does hold the record for most title fight wins in the division and is considered by some to be the best UFC heavyweight champion in history after beating Cormier again on Saturday.
Jones vs. Miocic for UFC heavyweight gold would be a massive superfight.
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Vacant or Interim 205-Pound Title Bout?
If Jones moves up to heavyweight, of course, White could pit the likes of Jan Blachowicz and Dominick Reyes against each other for the vacant or even an interim title bout at 205 pounds.
It’s also conceivable that Jones might simply choose to sit out the rest of the year or longer while he waits for his body to adjust to the new weight class. In that case, a new champion would still need to be crowned at 205 pounds for the vacated light heavyweight title.
Finally, the least likely option would be Jones reversing his stated desire about moving up to heavyweight and returning to defend his 205-pound belt. If that happens, Helen Yee reported that White said Jones would need to give Reyes a rematch.
But things just seem to be moving in a different direction. Jones has already amassed such an incredible run in the light heavyweight division as champion that it makes sense that he would be ready to try something else.
That something else could be a massive superfight against heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.
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