Next Moves For Jon Jones and Luke Rockhold
Jon Jones has never been defeated in the Octagon, and no the Matt Hamill DQ doesn’t count, but he seems to be his own worst enemy outside of it. Jones has cost himself valuable time away from the sport between troubles with the law and dirty drug tests, tarnishing his once towering legacy. And just when it appeared as though we would see him climb to the heavyweight division and throw down with reigning champ, Francis Ngannou, contract negotiations broke down and now Jones’ tenure in the UFC is very much in doubt.
This was a swift departure from the kumbaya moment Jones and UFC head honcho, Dana White, shared just a short time ago. Jones had tweeted, “I just had a great dinner and the best conversation I’ve had with Dana and a very long time, we got the deal done. Date to be announced soon.”
That tweet was followed by White tweeting a half-hour later, “Incredible night brother.”
Unfortunately, those tweets occurred on April 1st, so yes, it was all a big April Fool’s joke. Have you stopped laughing yet?
In August of last year, Jones tweeted, “Just got off the phone with @Ufc, today I confirm that I’m vacating the light heavyweight championship. It’s officially up for grabs. It’s been an amazing journey, sincere thank you to all my competition, Ufc and most importantly you fans.”
Over the past few months, the two sides have stayed in touch but Jones insists on getting paid more than White is willing to pay. Because of the on-again, off-again nature of their relationship and Jones’ tenuous status with the organization, White has given Derrick Lewis the next crack at Francis Ngannou and his heavyweight strap. The UFC odds on this matchup at all of the best online sportsbooks show the champ as a -360/+285 favorite even though he lost his first meeting with Lewis by unanimous decision in what proved to be a snooze-fest.
When TMZ asked White whether he would consider making amends with Jones and bringing him back after their public acrimony, White was candid, “That’s up to Jon. He could absolutely fight again at 205 pounds. He said he wouldn’t fight Stipe (Miocic), and now Derrick (Lewis) and Francis (Ngannou) are fighting, so we’ll see how that fight plays out. There’s nothing wrong with going out on top either – Jon Jones is undefeated; he’s never been beat.
“For those people that don’t know, you see that one loss on his record, he didn’t lose that fight. He won that fight in dominant fashion like most of his fights. It was a time when the Nevada Athletic Commission was at its weakest, and there was a referee that shouldn’t have been in there, and he stole that fight from Jon Jones. So, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for him to go out on top.”
Rock Returning to the UFC
Luke Rockhold, the former UFC middleweight champion, has been away from the Octagon since losing the third of his last four fights when Jan Błachowicz blasted him with a left-handed uppercut in the second round of their July, 2019 scrap. But to be fair, if you’re getting KO’ed by the likes of Blachowicz, Yoel Romero, and Michael Bisping, then you’re swimming in the deep end of the division.
But after a few years away, Rockhold is looking to make one final run at championship glory. At 36-years-old he realizes the sand in the hourglass is running out and is looking for a fight. The problem is, he can’t seem to find one.
“There’s a lot of guys but none of them want to sign the contract. Everyone wants to run around,” Rockhold said. “There’s guys that make sense. Uriah Hall was an option – he didn’t want that. Kevin Holland was an option – doesn’t seem like that was an option. (Darren) Till was thrown around, I think people jumped on that one. I’m not opposed to anyone, (Paulo_ Costa, anybody in that range. I mean, the Italian kid (Marvin Vettori) jumped – he beat Kevin Holland and he got a title fight. I just don’t understand that. He beat a guy coming off a loss.
“A lot of these guys need to be proven, need to be tested and I’m pretty sure I came off a world title fight. I’ve been inactive but I needed the time off but there’s also injuries and everything I had to assess and then had to take care of. So it’s not exactly my choice but the time off has suited me well. I’ve healed all my issues and I’m ready to go. I just need a fight, an opponent, a contract.”
