Jon Jones: I Would Fight Cain Velasquez In A Heartbeat
After Jon Jones showed the grit and heart of a true champion to grind out noted challenger Daniel Cormier in the main event of last night’s (Sat., January 3, 2015) UFC 182 pay-per-view (PPV) event from Las Vegas, Nevada, talk immediately shifted to just who “Bones” would face next.
Jones acknowledged that while “DC” was a tough challenge, it was Alexander Gustafsson who gave him his toughest fight in their classic war at UFC 165 in September 2013. The No. 1-ranked “Mauler” will face off with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the main event of January 24’s UFC on FOX 14 from Stockholm, Sweden, to decide his next title contender, but beyond that, the light heavyweight landscape could be looking a bit bare for “Bones.”
That’s why there’s been a decent amount of speculation that Jones will move up to heavyweight for a proposed super fight with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, and Jones isn’t shutting those rumors down. Speaking at the UFC 182 post-fight press conference, Jones said he would truly love a chance to fight Cormier’s friend and training partner in order to prove his Jackson’s MMA gym is the best:
“To be honest, I would fight Cain Velasquez in a heartbeat. I really would. I would love to fight AKA’s best athletes, and I believe I could beat ‘em. I believe that our team is the best in the world.”
However, Jones isn’t necessarily in a rush to move up to heavyweight. “Bones” said that it’s not difficult for him to make 205 pounds, and that he even had to force himself to eat more leading up to his grudge match with Cormier:
“With that being said, my maturity has allowed me to make weight a lot easier. This camp, around being three weeks outside of the camp, I started having to eat more and forcing myself to eat more to keep my weight up; and that’s a testament to hard work, discipline, focus.”
Because of that fact, Jones said he would only move up to heavyweight to entertain his fans, and even then, he would only do it if the stars aligned. The illustrious champion believes that his size is more of an excuse that his opponents use than an actual reason to move up in weight, so that means he’s going to stay put for the foreseeable future:
“So, fighting a heavyweight would be sheerly to entertain the fans, and would have to be against the perfect opponent. Making 205 is not a challenge for me at all; it hasn’t been a challenge for me. For a long time, I’ve been criticized for being too big for my weight class, and I think it’s an excuse for people who don’t understand my success.
I’m not too big for light heavyweight division; I’m built the way I’m built, I have very skinny legs, but I make weight just fine. So I am a true light heavyweight and I’ll be a light heavyweight for a long time.”
Jones appears to be staying put for now, yet his division is growing short on worthy title contenders. A super fight against Velasquez would undoubtedly be a dream match-up for MMA fans, but those fights haven’t seemed to materialize whatsoever.
With Velasquez still recovering from knee surgery and set to unify the titles opposite interim champ Fabricio Werdum sometime around June, do you believe Jones meet the winner of that fight if he gets past the victor of Gustafsson vs. “Rumble” as he’ll be favored to?
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports
