Jon Jones is open to adding another (much different) title to his mantle.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Jon Jones makes his long-awaited return to active competition at UFC 309 this weekend (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024) against Stipe Miocic from inside the most iconic arena in the world, Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The central talking point about Jones’s upcoming fight isn’t about Miocic anymore; it is about what he plans to do after UFC 309. “Bones” maintains that he isn’t fighting current UFC interim Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
Jon Jones clarifies that the heavyweight title would not necessarily have to be at stake if he were to fight Alex Pereira and he has another belt in mind.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) November 11, 2024
Full interview with the 🐐 coming soon… pic.twitter.com/R43YlfB9Ze
In fact, he thinks the interim should have been a thing at UFC 295.
“Well, the interim championship shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Jon Jones told TSN. “The only reason why there was an interim championship fight was because I got hurt, and they needed to keep the importance of that Madison Square Garden event, but Sergei [Pavlovich] and Aspinall shouldn’t have been fighting for an interim title in the first place. They should have just been a replacement fight, just a main event. I think making it an interim fight was premature, and now you have a bunch of confused people. When you have a dominant champion that’s been around as long as I have, there was no reason to put an interim championship belt out there.”
Last week, Jones teased a fight with current Light Heavyweight Alex Pereira if he continues to fight past UFC 309. “Bones” was asked if he’d be willing to relinquish his championship to take the mega-fight.
“It’d be cool to fight over the heavyweight championship, but I would also willingly give up the Heavyweight championship,” Jones said. “I walked away from the Light Heavyweight championship I had; I’d love to walk away from this one as well, on top, on my terms, good-headed, making lots of money. I love the position that I’m in right now.
“Fighting Pereira for the [Baddest Motherf—ker] BMF belt, that’d be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes. And the night we fight, we’d be both fighting for our third belt, which would be the BMF. How cool would that be? You heard it here first. I haven’t had this conversation with any other reporter,” Jones concluded.
Props to Jon Jones for being willing to say that he’ll stop holding the Heavyweight division hostage after UFC 309 and letting Aspinall move it forward.
While Jones’ inactivity kind of excludes him from being a BMF nowadays, he was undoubtedly once one (Dana White thinks he is the GOAT BMF). But, a potential fight against Pereira for the title that Max Holloway currently holds would be cool.