Stipe Miocic is ready and willing to welcome Jon Jones to the heavyweight division.
Miocic, who has the most heavyweight title defences of all time, recently lost his belt. The firefighter was dominated and stopped inside two rounds by Francis Ngannou earlier this year. He’s been campaigning for an immediate rematch ever since.
Jones has been talking up his move to heavyweight for some time now. The former light-heavyweight king relinquished his 205lb title last year and has been bulking up ever since. Right now, a financial dispute with the UFC seems to be standing between him and a mega-money match-up with Ngannou.
During a recent appearance on the Nelk Boys’ Full Send podcast, White spoke about when we might see Jones return to the Octagon and who he might fight.
“Me and Jones have had that type of relationship his whole career. When he’s ready to fight we are ready to go. He’s talking about fighting at heavyweight,” White said. “But, in the heavyweight division right now we are going back to Houston, Derrick Lewis is taking on Ciryl Gane and whoever wins that fight will fight Francis Ngannou. Whoever wins that fight, if Jon Jones wants to come back he can fight one of them. Or, he can fight Stipe Miocic. Stipe has accepted that fight and will take that fight.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Jones has previously made it very clear that he has no intention of fighting Miocic. Whatever happens with ‘Bones’, White is confident he will not compete until 2022 at the earliest.
“He’s not fighting until next year,” White concluded.
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