If it’s possible to get bored of being a UFC champion, Jon Jones reached that point in 2020.
Including his first victory over Mauricio Rua in March 2011, Jones’ last 15 fights were for the undisputed or provisional light heavyweight championship – all victories, without dispute, over the best the division has to offer.
A feeling of dissatisfaction was a big reason why Jones, a two-time UFC 205 pound champion, vacated the title in August in favor of a long-awaited move to heavyweight. Did he not get the belt and tried to become another champion of the promotion? Probably, if he wanted to. But Jones also wanted to get the division right with his new direction.
“The reason I decided to vacate the light heavyweight belt and not grab it is that I knew that my move to heavyweight would take a long time,” Jones said in an interview with the Bleacher Report. “I didn’t want to be one of those athletes to delay the category. I feel like I’ve been holding the light heavyweight championship for a long time, I ruined a lot of people’s dreams of becoming a light heavyweight champion and now it’s someone else’s turn. …
“I thought it was the right thing to do for everyone else. I could have done the selfish thing and clung to it and made up a lot of excuses and lying to the fans and saying that I would go back to the light heavyweights and make all those guys wait. I didn’t want to do that. I have no intention of going back to light heavyweight. “
And with that mentality, Jones turned his attention directly to winning the UFC heavyweight title, as he spent the last few months building and building his body. When Jones will have the opportunity to fight for the title is in the air, but it is a good sign that he and UFC President Dana White recently had a good conversation about his future.
As it stands, current heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic must face Francis Ngannou in a rematch of Miocic’s 2018 title fight. Ngannou lost his next fight to Derrick Lewis, but has since straightened the ship in great shape with a four-game winning streak that features all the knockouts in the first round to win his second chance at the Miocic.
White said Jones could have a shot at the title in his heavyweight debut. With Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 scheduled to happen in the first quarter of 2021, this means that Jones’ shot would likely come against either.
Defeating Miocic or Ngannou would renew Jones’ excitement about having gold in the UFC once again.
“It will be incredible,” said Jones. “Somewhere along the line, having that light heavyweight championship wrapped around my waist, the emotion and other emotions that I should have evoked, they kind of left. It was just another day at the office. That’s what we always do. But I haven’t won that heavyweight championship yet.
“Doing this for my family and my team and all the people who have invested in me over the years will be something new for all of us.”