Dana White: Jon Jones Could Get Immediate Title Shot At Heavyweight
Jon Jones has been making headlines once again these past few days. A couple of days after declaring he will be the UFC heavyweight champion immediately following UFC 252 this past weekend, the 33 year old officially vacated his light heavyweight title and confirmed his move up to heavyweight.
Jon Jones At Heavyweight
Speaking to ESPN (transcript by MMA Junkie), UFC president Dana White opened up on Jones’ move up to the heavyweight division.
“Jon Jones is vacating the light heavyweight title. Obviously, you can see he’s been tweeting,” Dana said. “He has an interest in fighting at heavyweight. He doesn’t know when, he doesn’t know who.
“I think he’s going to just take some time right now and do some of the things he wants to do outside of the octagon. When the time is right, he’ll step in and possibly fight at heavyweight.”
An Immediate Title Shot?
Dana is open for a possibility of Jones getting an immediate title shot at heavyweight, but not before the number one contender Francis Ngannou, gets his deserved rematch against the champion, Stipe Miocic.
“[Miocic versus Ngannou] is definitely the fight that’s going to happen at heavyweight now. Francis Ngannou had earned that title shot,” Dana said. “Then we’ll see what happens. We had a matchmaking meeting today. A lot of the top four or five guys are laid out for fights coming up in the fall. We’ll see what Jon Jones’ timing is to come back and who makes sense for him.
“… Listen, [Jones] is the longtime light heavyweight champion. In my opinion, he is the greatest of all time. If he wants to come back and take a shot at the heavyweight championship, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. But he can’t jump in front of Francis Ngannou right now.”
Jones The GOAT
For Dana, Jones is the greatest of all time, despite the recent dispute between the two over his previous negotiations to move up to fight Ngannou.
“Well, I say it all the time. He’s the GOAT. If you look at his career right now, he’s like 26-1. He’s 27-0. He’s never been beaten in the Octagon. He’s fought the who’s who of the sport. He went through murderers’ row at 205 pounds and destroyed everybody. He’s the greatest of all time.”
How do you think Jon Jones will fare against Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou at heavyweight?
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