Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was inspired (by this guy) to pursue bigger and better things in combat sports, is not interested in fighting reigning 265-pound kingpin Stipe Miocic.
Probably because he might lose.
That’s according to Coach Mike Winkeljohn, who acknowledges that Brock Lesnar also has a chance of breaking “Bones” if and when the embattled champ ever makes good on this promise, but at least the still-exiled Lesnar comes with a career-high payday.
From Submission Radio:
“Jon is a light heavyweight, so you can’t ask somebody just to step up and fight the best in the world at heavyweight and forgo the money fight against someone who they think they can beat. Jon said it himself, he thinks a good big man always beats a good smaller man. Jon Jones said that himself in a press conference. Do I think Jon thinks he can beat Stipe? Yeah. Do I think he might have said it? Yes. But I like the Brock Lesnar fight for right now. And we need to work on some skills and get some weight on Jon before he fights with Stipe, because I think that Stipe is a harder fight.”
But the less relevant fight?
Talk of a heavyweight super fight, coupled with his dramatic win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214, has been a nice way to distract the mixed martial arts (MMA) world from issues that plagued Jones over the past several years.
Like this.
Who and when Jones fights next remains to be seen, but it appears there is no shortage of viable contenders in either division. I guess in this day and age, it all comes down to the bigger payday.