Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is on his way up to heavyweight and top welterweight contender Gilbert Burns doesn’t believe that’s the right move.
During a recent segment on his YouTube channel, the No. 2 ranked “Durinho” said that Jones still has more work at light heavyweight and foresees heavyweight being a tough path for “Bones”.
Burns also said he believes No. 1 ranked heavyweight Francis Ngannou will defeat champion Stipe Miocic in the presumed next divisional title fight and then fight Jones. Ngannou is viewed by many as the most powerful fighter in the UFC and has 11 wins by KO/TKO, finishing some of the greatest heavyweights of all time, including former champs Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.
Burns does not like the Ngannou fight for Jones and believes taking it is a major risk for the former light heavyweight king.
“Jon Jones at heavyweight? Me, I don’t like that so much,” Burns said via MiddleEasy.com. “When you have a guy like Francis Ngannou in the heavyweight division, I don’t know. I don’t see an easy path for Jon Jones in the heavyweight division. Or he has to fight Stipe. If Stipe beats Ngannou, Stipe is fighting Jon Jones. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think Ngannou is going to defeat Stipe and Ngannou will fight Jon Jones. And I don’t like that fight.
“I don’t like the ‘what if,’ but what if Jon Jones goes against Francis Ngannou and [Ngannou is] going to knock him out badly?” Burns continued. “How about that? What is Jon Jones going to do? First, when you’re undefeated and you lose, it’s very tough. … If you’re champion, undefeated, undisputed and then you lose badly, I don’t know how that’s going to affect you [mentally]. I don’t know about Jon Jones’ future.”
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Burns Listed Opponents for Jones to Fight at Light Heavyweight
Burns said that Jones still has a few other fighters at light heavyweight for him to defeat, specifically champion Jan Blachowicz and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who is moving up to 205 pounds to fight Blachowicz. Burns also mentioned that Jones should rematch Thiago Santos. Jones defended his light heavyweight strap via split decision against Santos at UFC 239 in July 2019 in a fight that some scored for Santos.
“I think he still has a couple of guys to beat at 205 [pounds],” Burns said. “My opinion: he should fight Adesanya. Stay at 205, beat Jan Blachowicz, beat [Thiago] Santos again, another guy.”
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Doubting UFC’s Jon Jones: ‘I Don’t Like That Fight’