The long-awaited return of Jon Jones at UFC 285 raises another question: how long will he stick around and compete for?
After three long years away from the sport, Jon Jones has returned to seize the UFC heavyweight championship (watch the highlights here). But how long will he continue to fight for?
That’s a question without a definitive answer, but there are certainly hints that Jones is here for a good time, not a long time. Asked at the UFC 285 post-fight press conference if there was any temptation to simply win the heavyweight title and walk away on top, Jones gave a little insight into his current thought process.
“It is a big victory,” he said. “But I feel like you’re not the champ unless you defend that belt, and I got at least one more in me, and that’s what I’m going to give the fans.”
UFC president Dana White also addressed how long “Bones” might stick around for, and it certainly doesn’t sound like he’s expecting an extended run.
“Jon Jones is one of those guys that’s so good, so talented,” White said following UFC 285. “But like I said, it’s like dealing with an artist. And he makes a lot of money, man. Not a lot of people can say ‘Oh, I’ll take three years off and not work.’ So who knows?”
“He wants to fight Stipe, so we’ll make the Stipe fight. And then whatever he wants to do after that, we’ll be lucky we get to see him again. Or maybe he doesn’t, maybe he retires after that. I don’t know.”
Jones clearly has a plan in mind with this comeback: to secure his legacy as the greatest of all time. And based on his performance against Ciryl Gane on Saturday night, that may not take too many fights. Which is good because he’s been telling his training partners he’s got maybe three more in him.
“I think Jones fights once or twice more,” Yorgan De Castro said back in May 2022. “He told me he’ll fight three times and that’s it.”
Whether Jones’ return being delayed until March 2023 has cost us one of those three fights is unclear. For now, at least, we have Jon’s stated plan of defending his belt and defeating who he considers the best heavyweight of all time. That should go down sometime this summer. We’ll have to wait and see what happens after that.