UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has a huge grudge match coming up against Daniel Cormier at UFC 178 next month, but he has already expressed an interest in a superfight for the future.
Speaking with Sherdog, “Bones” explained that he’d love an opportunity to square off with UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman.
Check out his response when asked if he’d be interested in an opportunity to fight Weidman in New York’s Madison Square Garden—in the event that MMA gets sanctioned.
“Oh, man, I think that would be awesome. I would absolutely jump at the opportunity to have a super fight with Chris Weidman. I respect him a lot as a person and as a champion, and I think that that fight would make great sales — absolutely,” Jones said.
Jones, the top fighter in the UFC’s official rankings, is currently riding an 11-fight win streak (eight finishes) and has seen little opposition outside of a 25-minute war with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 in September.
His recent remarks are a complete 180 from what the Greg Jackson’s MMA standout said about a possible matchup with Weidman seven months ago.
Back in February, the dominant titleholder said he’d like to see Weidman “prove himself against some other world champions,” despite back-to-back victories over Anderson Silva in 2013, per Yahoo Sports.
Since then, “The All-American” also delivered in a five-round classic against Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 last month, getting his hand raised after an entertaining 25-minute scrap.
Coincidentally, Machida is the only common opponent between Jones and Weidman.
Bones defeated “The Dragon” at UFC 140 in December 2011, choking him unconscious with a standing guillotine in the second round of their championship affair.
Weidman, a former two-time All-American wrestler who is a perfect 12-0 inside the cage, also has a tough upcoming matchup on his plate when he takes on former 205-pound champ Vitor Belfort at UFC 181 in December.
In “The Phenom’s” last crack at UFC gold, he took a short-notice fight with Jones, getting submitted in the fourth round of their UFC 152 encounter in September 2012.
In the event that Weidman and Jones make it to 2015 with their undefeated streaks intact, would a superfight between the two make sense?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com