Jan Blachowicz “Waiting For Jon Jones”, Only Willing To Accept Title Fight
Late last month, news broke indicating that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had once again run into legal trouble. This time, the 32-year-old was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI, negligent use of a firearm, possession of an open container and driving without proof of insurance.
Less than one week after the arrest, however, Jones reached a plea deal that will include four days of house arrest and one year of probation among other requirements. While he’ll once again avoid jail time, this is certainly another concerning setback for “Bones”, though many in the MMA community weren’t too surprised to hear the news.
Jan Blachowicz, one of the 205-pound division’s top contenders, was one of those people.
“It’s nothing new, so I was just, ‘It’s OK. He (did) this again, but I don’t care,’” Blachowicz told MMAJunkie.com. “I want to beat him in the octagon. I don’t care what he does outside the octagon. It’s his life, so I don’t care.”
In regards to Blachowicz’s interest in fighting Jones in the Octagon, the 37-year-old Pole may get his wish sooner rather than later. A winner of three-straight, Blachowicz is coming off of a highly impressive first-round knockout victory over Corey Anderson earlier this year in Jones’ home state of New Mexico.
The win could certainly be enough to earn Blachowicz the next title shot and he even went as far as to state that he won’t be accepting any other bouts besides a championship fight:
“No, I’m waiting for Jon Jones,” he said. “I will wait for the title shot. I will not accept any different fight.”
There is, however, a potential road block to Blachowicz securing a shot at the title and that’s the fact that the UFC could elect to book a rematch between Jones and Dominick Reyes, who many felt got the better of “Bones” when the two met in February.
Blachowicz, however, feels that it’s “his turn” and he believes that he will be the “next one” to challenge Jones for light heavyweight gold:
“Dominick, he had his chance; he didn’t use it,” Blachowicz said. “Now it’s my turn. It’s a simple situation. I don’t understand why they think about the rematch. I know that was a good fight, close fight, but he lost the fight, and now it’s my turn.
“It’s a weird situation, because they say to me that I’m the next one, but they say something about the rematch against Dominick Reyes and Jon Jones, so it’s a little bit weird, and it’s confusing me. But I believe I’m gonna be the next one.”
Given that Jones has already agreed to a plea, it’s unlikely that his latest dust-up with the law will impact his fighting career. However, given the unpredictable nature of not only the sport but of the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s unclear when he could return to the cage.
