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See those skippable rankings right here.
Don’t be mad if Chris Weidman gets to skip everyone in the light heavyweight division and go directly to a Jon Jones title fight. After all, the “All American” is not to blame for the trail of carnage (and picograms) “Bones” has left at 205 pounds.
That’s according to a conversation the former middleweight titleholder had with UFC Unfiltered. All it takes is a dominant performance over streaking contender, Dominick Reyes, in the UFC Boston main event later this month on ESPN.
“If it’s up to me, I dominate Dominick Reyes and I go against Jon Jones. That’s the goal. All the guys kind of ranked in the top five, I feel like Jon Jones has kind of beat most of them already. It does kind of give me the ability to kind of skip the rankings a little bit and jump up there. If the UFC and the fans and everyone thinks it makes sense. But first thing’s first, I gotta prove myself in the weight class. Otherwise none of this matters.”
Weidman (14-4), who turned 35 back in June, has dropped four of his last five, including last November’s knockout loss to Ronaldo Souza at UFC 230. That prompted the struggling “All American” to abandon his post at 185 pounds and try his luck at light heavyweight.
As for Jones, he’s currently in a holding pattern as the promotion tries to decide if he should stay put and make another 205-pound title defense, perhaps against this trash-talking rival, or move up to heavyweight to help this lonely soul.