light heavyweight division, jon jones

Jon Jones feels fight with Miocic ‘proves a lot more’ than fight with Ngannou

Jon Jones’ return to the UFC seems to be getting closer.

For a long time, Jon Jones rules the UFC light heavyweight division. A falling out with the UFC led to him releasing his title and announcing his intentions to make a move to heavyweight. Since Jones relinquished the 205-pound belt there have been a total of three men holding that title, Jan Blachowicz, Glover Teixeira, and now Jiri Procházka. Jones has yet to make his heavyweight debut but now UFC President is saying that time is getting close.

“Jon Jones is ready to go,” White said on The Jim Rome show recently. “We’re just waiting for an opponent. It’s either going to be Francis (Ngannou), depending on how long his knee is going to take to recover, or Stipe Miocic.”

As of now, Francis Ngannou is the current champion. He is fresh off his first title defense against Ciryl Gane and is currently rehabbing his knee after surgery. The timeline for Ngannou’s return is unclear at this time and perhaps an interim title could be made in his absence. The UFC went ahead and made an interim title before when Ngannou was inactive for a bit. If that is the case Jones vs. Stipe Miocic could be the best option. This bout sounds more appealing to Jones at this point and he explained why in a recent Tweet.

“At this point I’m looking to fight Stipe, I think it proves a lot more,” Jones wrote. “Fighting a fairly one-dimensional fighter fresh off of knee surgery. I don’t know, I believe beating Stipe says more at this point.”

Miocic was the last man to hold the heavyweight title before Ngannou and has not fought since that loss. This bout between the two has been discussed for a while now, and with Ngannou out it seems like the most logical option for the UFC and Jones.

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Nicole Bosco