Mike Winkeljohn says UFC would have to pay a lot of money at Jon Jones to fight Stipe Miocic
Jon Jones is set to defend his light heavyweight title when at UFC 239 when he takes on Thiago Santos. However, just hours before the fight was reported, Jones was called out Stipe Miocic on Twitter, which Miocic then replied seemingly agreeing to a fight.
Ultimately, that fight is not happening as Jones is once again staying in the light heavyweight division. But, to many, they had hoped Jones would take on Miocic. However, Jones’ coach in Mike Winkeljohn never thought that was realistic. Rather, he knew the UFC would have to pay Jones a lot of money to go up to heavyweight.
“I thought we were fighting Santos the whole time,” Winkeljohn said on Submission Radio. “I have no idea if the UFC was involved in it or that was just Jon pulling his leg, I think the UFC would have to throw a lot of money at him. They want to make money too, so I can’t blame Jon for wanting to make some money as well.
“It has nothing to do with [being an] interesting [fight]. Jon’s just all about the challenge. If the big fight money came in the heavyweight division, he probably would go for it. But Jon right now seems to be content with cleaning out the light heavyweight division, staying active and doing what most people don’t do, which is fight quite often and beat everybody up and continue on towards his legacy. I think he’s learned a lot from the past, he seems focused, he’s been in the gym that much more. And gosh, the Jon Jones that’s in the gym all the time, as you saw with the second [Alexander] Gustafson fight, where he starts figuring things out, he’s scary.”
Jones has wanted to stay active as this will already be his second fight of 2019, and third since December. He is doing exactly that but staying active at 205lbs, not at heavyweight.
