Jon Jones may wish to add one other championship to his resume after UFC 309.
Simply days away from returning to defend his UFC heavyweight title towards Stipe Miocic in the principle occasion from Madison Sq. Backyard in New York, the incumbent champion addressed his current feedback the place he said moderately emphatically that he had no real interest in dealing with off with Tom Aspinall however as an alternative urged a possible showdown with reigning mild heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Whereas he’s confronted blowback for that declaration, Jones stands by his choice however he’s additionally not trying to maintain up a division or cease Aspinall from claiming the title as soon as he’s gone. The truth is, Jones says as a lot as he likes the thought of defending the heavyweight title towards Pereira, he’d be keen to surrender that belt with hopes {that a} totally different championship may probably go up for grabs.
“It’d be cool to battle over the heavyweight championship however I might additionally willingly quit the heavyweight championship,” Jones instructed SportsNet on Monday. “I walked away from the sunshine heavyweight championship. I’d like to stroll away from this one as properly on prime, on [my] personal phrases, good head in your shoulders, making numerous cash. I really like the place that I’m in proper now.
“Preventing Pereira for the ‘BMF’ belt, that might be cool. We each have two belts in two weight lessons and the night time we fought we’d each be preventing for our third belt, which might be the ‘BMF.’ How cool would that be?”
Jones suggesting a “BMF” title battle throws a complete new wrinkle into this potential matchup, particularly given his lengthy historical past as arguably the best fighter of all-time whereas Pereira has rapidly earned a popularity as one of many nastiest knockout artists to ever compete within the UFC.
There’s a present “BMF” champion in Max Holloway however that belt isn’t precisely weight class particular.
The primary ever “BMF” title went to Jorge Masvidal after he defeated Nate Diaz at welterweight after which the belt moved to Justin Gaethje following a vicious knockout over Dustin Poirier at light-weight. Gaethje then misplaced the belt to Holloway at UFC 300 however who’s to say a second “BMF” title couldn’t get launched for Jones vs. Pereira?
As a lot as Jones likes that concept, he additionally takes situation with the best way issues have performed after he primarily dismissed Aspinall as a attainable opponent worthy of his consideration.
Aspinall may need an interim title wrapped round his waist proper now however Jones doesn’t consider that belt ought to have been launched within the first place.
A torn pectoral muscle prevented him from preventing Miocic again in November 2023 and in his absence, the UFC topped Aspinall as the brand new interim champion after he knocked out Sergei Pavlovich. In Jones’ opinion, that battle finally created extra issues than it solved.
“The interim championship shouldn’t have been there within the first place,” Jones mentioned. “The one motive why there was an interim championship battle was as a result of I obtained damage and so they wanted to maintain the significance of that Madison Sq. Backyard occasion. However Sergei [Pavlovich] and Aspinall shouldn’t have been preventing for an interim title within the first place.
“They need to have simply been a substitute battle. A fundamental occasion battle. I believe making it an interim [title] battle was untimely. Now you’ve a bunch of confused folks.”
Jones believes he ought to have been given the chance to heal up from his damage and simply return to defend the heavyweight championship with out an interim title lingering within the shadows.
“When you’ve a dominant champion that’s been round so long as I’ve, there was no motive to place an interim championship belt on the market,” Jones mentioned. “That’s the repercussion of Madison Sq. Backyard final 12 months.”
