Just days out from his heavyweight title return at UFC 309, Jon Jones has made the interesting offer to vacate that crown should he beat Stipe Miocic, and suggested he would then compete for a symbolic BMF championship against former two-division champion, Alex Pereira.
Jones, a former two-time undisputed light heavyweight champion, is set to return to action this weekend at Madison Square Garden, snapping a lengthy hiatus in a reworked main event fight against the returning former champion, Miocic.
Sidelined through a pectoral tear injury, Rochester native, Jones most recently headlined a pay-per-view card back in March of last year against former interim titleholder, Ciryl Gane.
And snatching the heavyweight crown vacated by Francis Ngannou, Jones would wrap up a dominant opening round guillotine choke submission win over the French contender.
Openly discussing plans to likely skirt a title unification pairing with current interim champion, Tom Aspinall should he defeat Miocic this weekend in ‘The Big Apple’, Jones has now suggested he would ever go as far as to vacate the heavyweight crown, in search of a symbolic title affair with Brazilian favorite, Pereira.
Jon Jones suggests BMF title fight with Alex Pereira after UFC 309
“It’d be cool to fight over the heavyweight championship but I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship,” Jon Jones told SportsNet on Monday during an interview. “I walked away from the light heavyweight championship. I’d love to walk away from this one as well on top, on [my] own terms, good head on your shoulders, making lots of money. I love the position that I’m in right now.
Jon Jones clarifies that the heavyweight title would not necessarily have to be at stake if he were to fight Alex Pereira and he has another belt in mind.
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“Fighting (Alex) Pereira for the ‘BMF’ belt, that would be cool,” Jon Jones explained. “We both have two belts in two weight classes and the night we fought we’d both be fighting for our third belt, which would be the ‘BMF.’ How cool would that be?”