Jon Jones isn’t sure when his move to heavyweight will happen, but he’s certainly not above setting some lofty goals for himself.
The UFC’s reigning light heavyweight champion is currently preparing for a showdown in September against Alexander Gustafsson, but questions about his future seem unavoidable.
He’s mentioned numerous times that he plans to eventually test himself at heavyweight, but his timeline remains fairly vague.
“I’ll be here for a little while for sure,” Jones said about fighting at light heavyweight when speaking during a UFC media tour stop in New York City on Wednesday. “I have teammates that are heavyweights, so there’s a lot of work to be done in the light heavyweight division. I want to set a standard and a record that’s going to be really hard to break. That’s going to take some time.”
Still, with UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez sitting directly next to him during the press conference, Jones didn’t back down from saying that he would eventually like to hold that title as well.
He also added a new caveat to his future plans, with Jones now thinking of testing the boxing world at some point as well.
“I would like to fight for the heavyweight title one day and be the heavyweight champion of the world in MMA, and the heavyweight champion in boxing one day,” Jones revealed. “Maybe beat up a Klitschko brother. You never know with enough focus it’s a possibility.”
Jones is certainly dreaming big considering the UFC has never been big on their champions competing in other sports while under contract with them.
Regardless, Jones is setting some personal goals for his long-term success. It’s more likely with another title defense or two at light heavyweight that Jones would bump up a division and face the heavyweight champion in the UFC long before he’d ever sniff a boxing match.
Velasquez, as soft spoken on the microphone as he is devastating inside the Octagon, sounded more than happy to welcome Jones to the heavyweight division if they were ever matched up one day.
“I think it will be great. Jon Jones is a great champion, he’s amazing at what he does out there,” Velasquez said. “If he does be champion for a while then yeah, I’ll definitely accept the challenge for sure.”
Velasquez and Jones then decided to give the fans in attendance a treat by standing up and squaring off in a typical pre-fight staredown, although it was hard to ignore the smiles on their faces as they tried to play it serious.
It probably won’t be as friendly once Jones finally does make the move to heavyweight. If Velasquez is still champion, he definitely won’t greet any potential contender with a smile on his face.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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