Chris Weidman Knows ‘For A Fact’ He’ll Fight Jon Jones One Day
Even though he has a big middleweight title fight against Luke Rockhold at December’s UFC 194, UFC 185-pound champ Chris Weidman has never been shy about describing his desire to move up and face former 205-pound boss Jon Jones in the octagon.
Weidman is largely regarded as a huge middleweight who greatly benefits from his size and strength to bludgeon opponents, most recently evident by his overwhelming of a much smaller Vitor Belfort at UFC 187 in May. The game-changing champion has a gauntlet of dangerous middleweight challengers to face and defeat in Rockhold, ‘Jacare’ Souza, and Yoel Romero, but if he does indeed beat those men, Weidman wants to make the move up to 205 for a huge fight with the dominant ‘Bones.’
Of course, Jones is awaiting the decision of whether or not he will be indicted by a grand jury for felony hit-and-run charges after he allegedly left a 25-year-old pregnant woman with a fractured arm as he fled away from a drug-filled rental vehicle. The once-decorated former champ has a lot of work to return to fighting, but if and when he does, Weidman spoke up on today’s (Mon., August 17, 2015) episode of The MMA Hour to proclaim that it’s a huge bout that has to happen:
“I know for a fact, I’m not leaving this sport without fighting Jon. Unless he’s not coming back at all. But if he’s there, and I’m here, people are going to want to see it happen. And I want to see it happen.”
According to Weidman, the main reason for wanting to fight Jones is his competitive nature, as he’s used to aiming for the biggest challenges in mixed martial arts (MMA) after toppling all-time middleweight legend Anderson Silva to win the belt:
“That’s nothing against Jon. It’s just because I’m a competitor. I want to fight the best possible people. I want to have the biggest challenges in front of me and conquer them.
“That’s why I wanted to fight Anderson Silva when nobody else wanted to fight him. I want the biggest challenges. I want to beat people who people think I can’t beat. And Jon is definitely going to be one of those guys. He’s an amazing athlete and he’s accomplished so much,” Weidman said. “So I hope he gets his stuff together and he comes back.”
There’s no doubt that a ‘super fight’ with New York natives Weidman and Jones would be a huge spectacle, especially if were somehow to occur at Madison Square Garden one day. There’s also no doubt that Weidman has a veritable gauntlet of world-class opposition to run through at middleweight, and we still don’t know if Jones will avoid jail time, let alone when he’ll potentially return to fighting.
All of that means that Weidman vs. Jones is nothing more than a far-off possibility that has to have a lot of big ‘ifs’ fall into place order for it to happen. However, it would be quite a fun one if it were ever to come to fruition. Would the smaller Weidman have a legitimate shot at the dominant but disgraced Jones?
