November 11, 2024 9:30 pm ET
Jon Jones might or might not continue combating beyond UFC 309, however if he does, the ruling heavyweight champ has actually stated he would want to return for another battle versus light heavyweight king Alex Pereira over Tom Aspinall.
Making complex Jones’ dream is the reality that Aspinall presently is the UFC interim heavyweight champ, a title he declared in November 2023 with a knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. That door was opened just due to the fact that Jones suffered a pectoral injury that required him to withdraw from his initial date with Stipe Miocic.
If Jones, who’s flirted with retiring after UFC 309, beats Miocic and continues his profession beyond Saturday night’s centerpiece, numerous (maybe even most of) fans and experts think he needs to combine the title with Aspinall, UFC CEO Dana White amongst them. As far Jones is worried, those individuals are just misdirected.
“Well, the interim champion should not have actually existed in the very first location,” Jones stated Monday in an interview with Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter. “The only factor there was an interim champion battle was due to the fact that I got injured, and they required to keep the value of that Madison Square Garden occasion (UFC 295). Sergei and Aspinall should not have actually been battling for an interim title in the very first location. They need to’ve simply been a replacement battle, a centerpiece. I believe making it an interim battle was early, and now you have a lot of baffled individuals.”
Jones vs. Pereira for the BMF title?
When thinking about a future battle with Pereira or Aspinall, Jones views “Poatan” as the match that will assist his tradition more, which is very important to him. It’s why Jones is battling Miocic, who’s commonly thought about the biggest heavyweight of all time, rather of Aspinall, in spite of the previous champ’s three-and-a-half-year layoff.
Pereira, who’s the very same age as Jones (37 ), brings a lot more to the table in regards to qualifications, having actually declared the UFC middleweight title by knocking out Israel Adesanya before he went up to Jones’ old stomping premises of light heavyweight and gaining 4 successive title battles.
If it’s the status of the heavyweight champ that has everybody up in arms about why he ought to combat Aspinall, Jones wants to abandon in order to make a Pereira face-off take place.
“It ‘d be cool to combat (Pereira) for the heavyweight champion, however I would likewise voluntarily quit the heavyweight champion,” Jones stated. “I ignored the light heavyweight champion, and I ‘d enjoy to ignore this one, also, on top, on (my) own terms, great head on (my) shoulders, making great deals of cash. I enjoy the position that I’m in today.”
Jones even has a concept for the UFC to think about must a battle with Pereira concern fulfillment.
“Fighting Pereira for the BMF belt,