After Jon Jones dominated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 to capture the light heavyweight title, speculation began as to who in the division would ever be able to defeat him. Many opined that Jones would remain champ for a long time to come. While that may be true, let’s not forget these famous words: “Welcome to the Machida era!”
Jones has been booked to face former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on September 24 at UFC 135. The fight will be the main event from Denver, Colorado’s Pepsi Center.
While the fight with Jackson is still a few months away, there have been some interesting developments out of the Jones camp that point to the fact that perhaps his main focus is not MMA and the UFC light heavyweight title.
The first indication that Jones may be thinking that the UFC title is just a steppingstone to bigger things came earlier in the month, when MMAHEAT caught up with Jones on the Warner Brothers studio lot. In the interview, Jones admitted that although he had once looked at acting as something that could sidetrack him, he was warming to the idea and had been speaking to the Warner folks about possible acting gigs.
Jones also recently spoke to Luke Thomas of SB Nation, where he revealed another piece of information that may lead one to believe that his focus is slipping from the light heavyweight strap that he has yet to defend. Jones told Thomas, ““I think personally it would be cool to be considered a heavyweight champion of the world. I think it doesn’t get much better than that. But I’m totally fine with being the light heavyweight champion.”
Jones did qualify his statement with the remark that he is fine with the light heavyweight title, but to hear him entertain thoughts on the heavyweight title may indicate that he is looking past his first title defense.
This may all be speculation, but it does seem that Jones may very well be looking a little too far into the future for his own good.
Jones would be well served to look at a champion that has established a legacy, Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre once looked past an opponent, Matt Serra, and it cost him his title.
Jones is a young fighter, and while that youth and exuberance can serve him well, it can also have devastating results. If Jones loses his focus, it will only take one of Rampage’s “bungalows” to turn him into a champ with zero title defenses.
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