Former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones said that he would love to box in the wake of a potential comeback to mixed martial arts.
Jones was a member of the broadcast team for the MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano card this past Saturday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Netflix’s first foray into MMA was a grand success, as the main event features women’s MMA pioneers Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano going at it, with Rousey finishing the fight with a 17-second armbar.
Also on the card was former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who knocked out Philipe Lins in the first round of their fight. After that bout was over, Ngannou said he was open to fighting Jones in MVP MMA. Jones said that he, too, was interested in the fight, though he admitted he first would have to get out of his UFC contract if that were to happen.
Jon Jones Open to Boxing
Speaking to his publicist Denise White after MVP MMA, Jones was asked if he planned on fighting again. The UFC legend said that, while he is open to it, he knows he needs to get out of his contract with the UFC first. To that end, he said that he needs to find the “right people” to help him get out of his deal.
“Am I going to fight again? You know what? I don’t know. I think that getting out of my UFC contract is very, very possible. I need to find the right people and go through the right channels, or just put more effort into it,” Jones said.
While competing in MMA for a rival promotion of the UFC seems like a pipedream at the moment, Jones admitted that he is open to boxing, suggesting he would be a lot better at that sport than some people think.
“You know, I’ve really wanted to box. If I were to put all my energy into just my hands in combination with punching power, I think I’d really surprise a lot of people,” Jones said. “I would love to box. Yeah, it’d be a lot of fun.”
Jon Jones Needs to Get Out of His UFC Deal First
If Jones is going to compete in combat sports, whether that’s in MMA or in boxing, then he first needs to get out of his UFC deal.
For Jones to get out of his contract with the UFC, he is going to need to find the right lawyers to help him figure out a way to get out of his deal. UFC president Dana White has no true incentive to let him out of his deal early, as he still has six UFC fights left on the contract he signed with the promotion in 2023. So Jones is going to need to find the right people, like he said, if he is truly going to get out of his contract.
Provided that happens, then there will certainly be opportunities for MMA or boxing on Netflix. But first, he needs to get out of his UFC contract, and that’s not going to be easy to do.
Jon Jones Admits He ‘Would Love to Box’