Despite being mired in a contentious battle with the UFC and amid threats to vacate his belt, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones might have his eyes on the promotion’s heavyweight belt.
Jones ended his Twitter play-by-play of Stipe Miocic’s win over Daniel Cormier for the UFC heavyweight title with some tweets implying a move to heavyweight could be coming soon.
Heavyweight world championships I will be seeing you real soon. Victorious
— BONY (@JonnyBones)
This is exciting for me
— BONY (@JonnyBones)
For some reason these heavyweights don’t seem so big to me tonight
— BONY (@JonnyBones)
Jones even started putting together a game plan to beat Miocic.
Avoid Stipe’s right hand, I’m too fast, I’ll be too strong when the time is right and have way too much energy. Soon and very soon I’ll be considered the baddest man on this planet
— BONY (@JonnyBones)
Of course, a shot at the UFC heavyweight title would require a working relationship with the UFC, and that hasn’t been the case with Jones in the last few months.
Jones in standoff with Dana White, UFC
Jones’ standoff with the UFC began when heated talks about a potential superfight against heavyweight Francis Ngannou went south, and soon escalated into threats to walk away from his belt.
At one point, Jones said he was willing to sit out of competition for two or three years if it meant exposing UFC’s negotiation tactics. Jones and UFC president Dana White have exchanged snipes throughout the process, with White alleging that Jones has made unreasonable demands. Several other fighters have publicly pushed for better compensation from UFC as well.
Jones, regarded by many as the greatest fighter in UFC history, most recently fought Dominick Reyes at light heavyweight in February. A fight against Miocic, arguably the greatest heavyweight in UFC history, would be a monster event.
That kind of revenue could be enough to mend the relationship and then some, but that would still require everyone returning to the table. MMA fans can only hope.
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