We may have seen the last of Jon Jones in light heavyweight.
The undisputed best 205-pounder in the world for the past decade, ‘Bones’ is on course to make a long-awaited leap to the heavyweight division in 2021 after teasing the move for years. Jones has successfully defended the lightweight heavyweight title once in the past year, winning a decisive decision against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February and then vacating the title in August amid a public dispute with the UFC over compensation for fighters. He later announced his intentions to pursue a second title.
Jones won 15 UFC championship games (excluding a third round KO during his second meeting with Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in July 2017, which turned into a no match when Jones tested positive for the banned drug turinabol and thereafter for 15 months suspended) and plans for his next heavyweight title win. In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Jones explained that one of the reasons he wanted to change division was to provide an opportunity for other fighters.
“The reason I decided to vacate the light heavyweight belt and not hang on to it was because I knew my move to heavyweight would take a very long time,” Jones said. ‘I did not want to be one of the athletes to slow down the division. I feel like I’ve been holding the light heavyweight championship for so long – I’ve ruined so many people’s dreams of being the light heavyweight champion – and now it’s time for someone else to get it.
‘I thought it was the right thing to do for everyone else. I could do the selfish thing and hold on to it and come up with a bunch of excuses and lie to the fans and say I was going to go back to the heavyweight and make all these guys wait. I did not want to do that. I do not intend to ever return to light heavyweight again. ”
As Jones leaves the division, the way is paved for a super fight between the recently awarded lightweight champion, Jan Blachowicz, and the middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. Blachowicz is expected to defend his title against Adesanya at UFC 259 in March.
This is probably disappointing news for fans who were hoping that the months that Jones and Adesanya tied together in interviews and on social media would lead to a super fight of a different kind, but as it looks now, the two do not seem to on the way is not for a collision in the cage. Instead, Jones is waiting for what he assumes will be an immediate title shot, though he is not sure if it will be against heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou, no. 1, will not be.
There is currently no timetable for when Miocic plans to fight again after settling his own feud with Cormier in 2020, and therefore no timetable for when Jones could get a chance at winning a possible Miocic-Ngannou non-chance. Both Miocic and Ngannou have publicly welcomed the challenge of welcoming Jones in heavyweight.
“I’m going to be ready for one of the two,” Jones said. “Both battles are extremely challenging. Support, he is the greatest heavyweight of all time. He has all the statistics and records to prove it. And then Francis is just a freak when it comes to his knockout power, and he’s constantly improving.
“Both fights are huge challenges, but that’s what I’m up to at this stage of my career: to go big and see what I have.”
Jones told Bleacher Report that he feels ‘alive’ in training as he prepares for a career-changing step and reiterates the idea that a heavyweight title is essential to confirm his legacy. He said his current plan is to win the belt a few times and defend it before focusing on humanitarian work.
Jones is the hunter for the first time in centuries and is already contemplating what it will look like when he becomes a two-division champion.
“It will feel great,” Jones said. ‘Somewhere along the line, the lightweight-heavyweight championship wrapped around my waist, the excitement and other emotions it must have aroused. It was just another day at the office. That was what we always do. But I have not won that heavyweight championship yet. Doing it for my family, and doing it for my team and all the people who have invested in me over the years, will be something new for all of us. ”