Jon Jones has scoffed at the idea of a future clash with unbeaten middleweight contender, Khamzat Chimaev – after the latter named a bout with the heavyweight champion as a “dream” fight for him in the future.
Chimaev, the current number nine ranked middleweight contender, is in the midst of a 13-fight unbeaten run since his mixed martial arts debut, most recently landing a close, majority decision win over former undisputed welterweight kingpin, Kamaru Usman back in October at UFC 294.
As for Jones, the Endicott native has been sidelined since he returned to the Octagon from a three-year hiatus at UFC 285 back in March of last year, landing the vacant heavyweight crown with a one-sided opening round guillotine choke submission win over former interim gold holder, Ciryl Gane.
And claiming he is “guaranteed” a title fight against either Sean Strickland or Dricus du Plessis come the culmination of UFC 297 this weekend in Canada, Chimaev claimed a fight with current heavyweight kingpin, Jones was a “dream” matchup for him in the future.
“Depends which weight class,” Khamzat Chimaev said. “He’s (Jon Jones) now a heavyweight. You’re asking me? For sure, I think I will win. That’s a hard fight for everyone. He fought two times with my training partner, Alexander Gustafsson – they had a good fight.”
“So, I became a fighter with Alex, been training with him,” Khamzat Chimaev explained. “For sure I want to fight with [Jones] so it will be a big history if we fight. Since Alex gave him the best fight in history, now maybe it’s my time to fight him, as well.”
Jon Jones shuts down Khamzat Chimaev definitively
Reacting to Chimaev’s sights on a fight, former two-time light heavyweight, Jones stopped the Chechen in his tracks.
“Khamzat Chimaev stop it, don’t let people ask you those questions,” Jon Jones posted on his official X account.