Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Forward of his extremely anticipated return to the Octagon at UFC 309 on Saturday, UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones revealed that he’d be keen to relinquish his title if it offers him the prospect to face mild heavyweight champion Alex Pereira with the UFC “BMF” title on the road.
“It would be cool to combat over the heavyweight championship however I might additionally willingly hand over the heavyweight championship,” Jones informed SportsNet on Monday, per Damon Martin of MMA Combating. “I walked away from the sunshine heavyweight championship. I would like to stroll away from this one as effectively on prime, on [my] personal phrases, good head in your shoulders, making a lot of cash. I really like the place that I am in proper now. Combating Pereira for the ‘BMF’ belt, that will be cool. We each have two belts in two weight lessons and the evening we fought we would each be preventing for our third belt, which might be the ‘BMF.’ How cool would that be?”
Aaron Bronsteter @aaronbronsteter
Jon Jones clarifies that the heavyweight title wouldn’t essentially need to be at stake if he had been to combat Alex Pereira and he has one other belt in thoughts.
Full interview with the 🐐 coming quickly… pic.twitter.com/R43YlfB9Ze
After all, Jones’ suggestion for an excellent combat in opposition to Pereira is a continuation of his effort to keep away from a heavyweight title unification combat in opposition to interim champion Tom Aspinall. If Jones is profitable in defending his title in opposition to Stipe Miocic in Saturday’s important occasion, he believes a future combat in opposition to Aspinall does not do a lot so as to add to his legacy, which is why a combat in opposition to the UFC’s largest rising star Pereira is extra enticing to him.
Jones has regularly been referred to as out on social media for his refusal to face Aspinall, however the 37-year-old does not have many fights remaining in his storied MMA profession, so he believes he is earned the correct to exit on his personal phrases.
BONY @JonnyBones
I do know it is laborious for lots of you guys to know,, however based mostly on his résumé as we speak, preventing and beating him would change nothing about my legacy. I might actually be in the identical place I’m now. The Goat https://t.co/9vNS0Ga4gd
Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title after Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle that sidelined him for over a yr. Nevertheless, Jones believes the UFC made a untimely resolution to create an interim title, and that is the explanation there’s a lot controversy surrounding his resolution on who he would face after Miocic.
“The interim championship should not have been there within the first place,” Jones mentioned. “The one motive why there was an interim championship combat was as a result of I acquired damage and so they wanted to maintain the significance of that Madison Sq. Backyard occasion. However Sergei [Pavlovich] and Aspinall should not have been preventing for an interim title within the first place. They need to have simply been a substitute combat. A important occasion combat. I believe making it an interim [title] combat was untimely. Now you could have a bunch of confused individuals.”
