Daniel Cormier isn’t liking Jon Jones’ chances in terms of becoming a UFC heavyweight champion.
2022 is supposedly the year for Jon Jones’ heavyweight debut. Nothing has been finalized, but “Bones” expects it to happen “sometime in the second quarter.”
As a light heavyweight, Jones tore through the competition and was the on-and-off perennial champion for nine years. While the world has yet to see him compete in his new weight class, Daniel Cormier says his 34-year-old rival may not achieve the same amount of success.
“DC” shared his 2022 predictions in his weekly ESPN Show with Ryan Clark where he touched on Jones’ potential future as a heavyweight, among other things.
“I believe that Jon Jones will fight at heavyweight, and he’ll fight for the belt. But he’ll lose,” Cormier said. “To Ciryl Gane or Francis Ngannou. And I just think that the time away with the weight difference, and those guys being who they are, that’s the problem.
“It’s not that Jones has gotten worse. It’s just that these guys are a different level of heavyweight.”
Jones last saw action at UFC 247 in March 2020 against Dominick Reyes. He won the fight via a hotly-contested unanimous decision then vacated the 205-pound belt five months later.