Jon Jones is back to calling his own shots and this time it revolves around former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.
After vacating his UFC light heavyweight title back in 2020 Jones planned to move to heavyweight for a potential superfight with Francis Ngannou. It was a dream matchup concocted in combat heaven, but contract negotiations and legal troubles for Jones ultimately slowed down his move to heavyweight.
Ngannou, on the other hand, tried to stay active and is now coming off his first official UFC heavyweight title defense after beating rival Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. The victory helped solidify Ngannou as the best heavyweight fighter in the world today, but he is now running the course with his own UFC contract negotiations and that could take forever. Not to mention the injured ACL/MCL that could keep “Predator” sidelined through all of 2022.
With Ngannou no longer a relevant option for his heavyweight debut Jones is now turning his attention to Miocic. While Miocic doesn’t hold the undisputed UFC heavyweight title he’s clearly the next best thing. Miocic is widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight of all time and easily has one of the best resumes in the history of the division.
Jones indirectly called Miocic out during a Twitter post on Friday (shown below):
The greatest heavyweight of all time versus the greatest light heavyweight, who wants to see it? I’m game
— BONY (@JonnyBones) February 4, 2022
“The greatest heavyweight of all time versus the greatest light heavyweight, who wants to see it? I’m game.”
Ironically, Jones’ biggest rival, former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, called for this matchup just this past week. With Ngannou out for potentially the next 10 months and Jones needing a big name for his long-awaited heavyweight debut it makes sense to bring Miocic back into the mix.
Miocic, who is coming off a devastating title loss to Ngannou at UFC 260 in Mar. 2021, deserves a high-profile fight against Jones at this point in his career. The 39-year-old former champion may only have a few fights left in the tank so it’s only fitting that Miocic gets another big-time opponent for his return to the Octagon.
All of that said, Jones still needs to get with the UFC and figure out how he’s going to be properly compensated moving forward. “Bones” wasn’t too happy about his paychecks before he vacated his light heavyweight strap so that’s probably something both parties need to figure out before any matchups are booked.
What say you, Maniacs? Is Jones vs. Miocic the fight to make?
Sound off!