Jon Jones Is Reconsidering Jump To Heavyweight
Throughout his amazingly dominant career, UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jone Jones has ruled the UFC’s 205-pound division since he first made the walk to the Octagon, as his opponents have been forced to deal with his combination of a freakish athletic physique and explosive unorthodox striking.
Much talk has been thrown around throughout Jones’ career about a possible jump up to the thunderous heavyweight division, but in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Jones stated he’s starting not to like that idea as much as he once did:
“To be honest with you, heavyweight really doesn’t really seem as appealing to me as it once did,” Jones said.
“I’m almost 30 now, and I’m not really having any more growth spurts,” Jones said. “This is pretty much the size I’m going to be, and it’s so easy for me to make light heavyweight.
As I get older, and as I mature and take things more seriously – you know, diet and everything – it’s become easier for me to maintain, and I’ve never missed weight.”
Jones’ sudden change of heart most likely has to do with the fact that the Jackson-Wink product feels like he has some unfinished business in the 205-pound division:
“I would love to rematch Gustafsson at some point,” Jones said. “Anthony Johnson is obviously a fight that I need to get out of the way.
Beating Daniel Cormier again is huge for my legacy. But really, just those three names, Cormier, Gustafsson and Johnson, are the guys I want to fight again the most, and that’s it. That’s as far as my eyes can see right now.”
While Jones isn’t completely ruling out a jump to the heavyweight division, he’s more than content to finish out his career in the light heavyweight division he’s ruled for nearly eight years:
“The only way I will go up to heavyweight, it will really have to be stylistically the right fight for me, and the numbers will have to make sense,” Jones said. “Or, obviously, just fighting the right champion for that opportunity to go straight for the title.
“Move up and finish my career there? I don’t see a point when I’m doing so well where I’m at.”
Jones will meet Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 200 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9, 2016.
