Coach: ‘Bones’ Wants Big Payday From Brock, Not Loss From Miocic
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones made headlines when he called out former heavyweight champ and WWE superstar Brock Lesnar after knocking out Daniel Cormier at July 29’s UFC 214 from Anaheim.
While the callout left many fight fans and pundits scratching their heads, especially since Lesnar retired after a failed PED test following his fight with Mark Hunt at UFC 200, the idea has picked up steam regardless.
Jones coach Mike Winkeljohn discussed the idea of a Jones vs Lesnar super fight, and revealed some of the thought behind it:
“Jon is a light heavyweight, so you can’t ask somebody just to step up and fight the best in the world at heavyweight and forgo the money fight against someone who they think they can beat. Jon said it himself, he thinks a good big man always beats a good smaller man. Jon Jones said that himself in a press conference. Do I think Jon thinks he can beat Stipe? Yeah. Do I think he might have said it? Yes. But I like the Brock Lesnar fight for right now. And we need to work on some skills and get some weight on Jon before he fights with Stipe, because I think that Stipe is a harder fight.”
Miocic has been on an absolute tear since winning the belt from Fabricio Werdum last year. He’s knocked out every title challenger since then, each one in the first round.
Meanwhile, Lesnar’s status as a former champ and rabid wrestling fan base could equate to a big-money fight for Jones.
Clearly Miocic is the more relevant fight if Jones really wants to make a splash in the heavyweight division, but with Lesnar being a far bigger draw than Stipe, the decision to pursue Lesnar makes more sense for the light heavyweight champ at the moment.
