Looks like the tension between former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen isn’t going away anytime soon, after “Bones” ripped Sonnen on Twitter on Tuesday.
This all started when Sonnen teased Jones for an earlier tweet he posted this past weekend, alluding to “giving birth to something big” this year.
Shortly after Sonnen’s rebuttal, Jones sent a series of tweets his way and made a reference to their light heavyweight title bout back at UFC 159. The two also spent time as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter during a season that included UFC middleweights Uriah Hall and Kelvin Gastelum. Following their time on television together, Jones would defeat Sonnen by TKO after suffering a toe injury earlier in the fight.
Jones also ignored Sonnen during a post-fight interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on the set of “Ariel and the Bad Guy” following his win over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232.
The beef between the two UFC legends seems to stem from Jones’s positive drug tests during his career, and Sonnen’s criticism of him. Leading up to Jones’ win over Gustafsson, he tested positive for a banned substance which led to the fight being moved from Las Vegas to California due to the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s findings, and Sonnen made some comments that may have rubbed Jones the wrong way.,
“Jon Jones pops for an illegal banned steroid – and illegal is important, Sonnen said during a UFC 232 weigh-in show with Helwani and ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “There’s a number of banned substances, I’m not talking against the rule of sport. I’m talking against the law. If you were caught in possession of this, you get put in handcuffs. He popped for that.”
Sonnen retired from fighting following a long tenure in the UFC and a brief tenure in Bellator. Sonnen fell to former UFC champion Lyoto Machida in the final bout of his career by knockout at Bellator 222. Jones vacated his long-defended UFC light heavyweight belt following his close decision win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 and hasn’t competed since sharing his intentions to make a run at heavyweight.
What do you think about the recent back-and-forth between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen? Do you think Jones will fight in 2021?