Jon Jones’ UFC career is currently in limbo, but he said he’s in no rush to return to the octagon as a heavyweight.
Jones, 33, was apparently passed over this past month for a title shot by his longtime promoter amid a public spat over pay with UFC President Dana White. In April, he split with his longtime management firm and one month later hired a new advisor to lead his career as heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis was named the next challenger to current champ Francis Ngannou.
Jones has stayed quiet about negotiations with the UFC since hiring a new team, but on Thursday he was optimistic about his eventual move to heavyweight and indicated the ball was still in his court.
“Becoming a heavy weight [sic] is a serious process,” Jon Jones wrote. “Not many people [understand] what it takes to do it the right way. I’ll be back when I’m good and ready.”
The motivation for Jones’ latest tweets wasn’t about his future, but his past. A recent interview given by former opponent Anthony Smith spurred headlines about his claim that Jones had failed every drug test on the week of their UFC 235 meeting. As MMA Fighting previously reported, Jones received a conditional license to fight Smith after trace amounts of a metabolite for oral turinabol showed up in an out-of-competition drug test. Several failed tests were attributed to the “pulsing” of the M3 metabolite that was determined by several regulators to provide no performance-enhancing benefit. Jones went on to dominate Smith en route to a unanimous decision.
Jon Jones clapped back at Smith’s interview, which was given in April, and chalked it up to another opponent offering excuses for a loss.
Since relinquishing the light heavyweight title, Jon Jones has given fans an inside look at his move up to heavyweight as he bulks up.