Jon Jones Says He’ll ‘Deal’ With Brock Lesnar After UFC 214

He may be slated to finally settle his three-year-long rivalry with Daniel Cormier in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, but much of the hype surrounding former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been about his rumored super fight with former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar.

The speculation began when word arrived last week that Lesnar has re-entered the USADA testing pool to begin an octagon return, a notion that was shot down by UFC vice president of athlete health and wellness Jeff Novitzky when he confirmed Lesnar still had six months left on his USADA suspension.

But with the potential of such a massive fight gaining steam, Jones fired up discussions to an all-new level when he said he’d ‘love to fight Lesnar’ during a Facebook live chat earlier this week.

Lesnar was quick to respond to The Associated Press, stating he would fight Jones ‘anytime, anywhere,’ but had to worry about ‘DC’ on Saturday first. Indeed that was a true statement, yet Jones vs. Lesnar was still a topic of discussion at yesterday’s UFC 214 pre-fight presser. Asked about the hulking heavyweight during the last question, White revealed he had not talked to Lesnar, something that people are not surprisingly refusing to believe:

“I haven’t talked to Brock Lesnar. I don’t know. Sounds like nobody believes me, but it’s true. I have not talked to Brock Lesnar.”

It’s far from difficult to surmise just why people wouldn’t believe White has talked to Lesnar amidst seemingly infinite rumors about his return, as White has gained a nefarious reputation for saying one thing was not true only to see it announced within a matter of days – or even hours. Lesnar’s return at UFC 200 was also shrouded in secrecy – at least, the UFC attempted to havee it be that way last June, but the story was broke early before it was to be announced at UFC 199.

So the promotion, despite being under new ownership, may still be playing it coy with Lesnar’s return. He does have the aforementioned six months left on his ‘frozen’ suspension from his win over Mark Hunt, before and during which he failed USADA drug tests for banned substance clomiphene, retiring when he was handed a ban.

He could return in 2018, and obviously a fight against Jones, if he’s able to beat Cormier and stay out of trouble until then, would obviously be a massive pay-per-view success. Jones knows that, and so does White, yet “Bones” chose to take a stance along the lines of Lesnar’s suggestion at the press conference:

“I’ll deal with Daniel, and then I’ll deal with Brock Lesnar.”

Probably a good idea after only one fight in the last two-and-a-half years. There are many hurdles to be toppled in the fight becoming a legitimate possibility, as Jones and Lesnar’s well-documented troubles with performance-enhancing drugs (and other illegal drugs in Jones’ case) will factor in perhaps more than any other fight, as both were ironically suspended at the same event for the same substance.

That makes it seem like Jones vs. Lesnar, while a fight fan’s dream on paper, could be tough to actually book in real life. As Jones says, he has to get by Cormier first.