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Polish cherries never tasted so good.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been nothing but complimentary toward newly-minted 205-pound kingpin Jan Blachowicz, who captured the vacant crown with a second-round finish of Dominick Reyes at UFC 253.
In fact, Jones was so impressed with the skills of Blachowicz that he’s now rethinking that hasty (and in some ways mandatory) move to heavyweight and may instead return to his old stomping grounds to test himself against the Polish power puncher.
LOL … just kidding.
Jones is only coming back because Reyes got whooped, which means “Bones” can reclaim his crown without having to worry about another five rounds against “The Devastator” after surviving a very close call at UFC 247 last February.
That’s according to retired ex-champ Daniel Cormier.
“That’s so wack,” Cormier told Ariel Helwani. “Have you ever met a guy that’s so out of touch? He’s out of touch. It’s like, okay, Jon, then why not just go, ‘I was afraid of Dominick Reyes. Now I want to go back to 205 and fight Jan Blachowicz because he beat Dom.’ That’s crazy. Why would he do that? I mean, who does that? Who does that?”
His razor-thin victory over Reyes marked the second straight fight in which Jones did not look as dominant as fans have become accustomed to. In the UFC 239 main event in July 2019, “Bones” squeaked past Thiago Santos with a split-decision nod.
“This was supposed to be him and Reyes,” Cormier said about UFC 253. “Instead, he gave up the belt. He gave up the belt and said, ‘I want to fight at heavyweight.’ Now, ‘Maybe, I’ll go back?’ How could you be so out of touch? I don’t get it. . . That’s your boy over there kicking people while they’re down and pretty much admitting, ‘I didn’t want to fight Dominick Reyes but I’ll fight Jan Blachowicz.’ That’s crazy.”
Blachowicz called for a Jones fight in the wake of his UFC 253 victory but is more likely to face the winner of Glover Teixeira vs. Thiago Santos, who collide later this year for the right to challenge for the 205-pound strap.
“Obviously if Jon Jones wanted that fight, we wouldn’t deny Jon Jones the opportunity,” UFC President Dana White told reporters at the UFC 253 post-fight press conference.
I’m sure Teixeira and Santos will have something to say about that.