If you can get bored of being a UFC champion, Jon Jones has reached that point in 2020.
Including his first title win over Mauricio Rua in March 2011, Jones’ last 15 fights have been either for the undisputed or lightweight interim championship – all winning, without any competition, over the best offered by the division .
A sense of dissatisfaction was an important reason why Jones, two-time £ 205 UFC champion, gave up the title in August in favor of a long-awaited move to the heavyweight division. Could he have held on to his belt and tried to become another champion of the promotion? Probably if he wanted to. But Jones also wanted to do well in the division, given his new direction.
“The reason I decided to give up the lightweight belt and not cling to it is because I knew my weight gain would take a long time,” Jones said in an interview with Bleacher Report. “I didn’t want to be one of those athletes who would slow down the division. I feel like I’ve held the lightweight championship for so long, that I’ve broken many people’s dreams of being the lightweight champion, and now it’s time for someone else to have it. …
“I thought it was the best thing for everyone else. I could have done the selfish thing and stick to it and come up with a bunch of excuses and I lied to the fans and I said I would go back to light weights and make all these guys wait. I did not want to do this. I have no intention of ever returning to light weight. “
And with that in mind, Jones has clearly turned his attention to winning the UFC heavyweight title, while spending the last few months piling up and building his frame. When Jones has a chance to fight for the title, he is in the air, but it is a good sign that he and UFC President Dana White have recently had a good conversation about his future.
As things stand, it is expected that Stipe Miocic, the reigning champion, will meet with Francis Ngannou in a rematch of the fight for the 2018 title won by Miocic. Ngannou lost his next fight to Derrick Lewis, but has since led the ship in a big way with a four-fight winning streak, which features all the eliminations from the first round to win the second crack at Miocic.
White said Jones could get a title shot in his heavyweight debut. With Miocic vs. Ngannou 2, which is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2021, means that Jones’ blow will probably come against any man.
Defeating Miocic or Ngannou would renew Jones’ enthusiasm for holding UFC gold once again.
“It will feel amazing,” Jones said. “Somewhere along the line, wrapping around my waist that lightweight championship, the enthusiasm and other emotions it should have provoked, disappeared. It was just another day at the office. It was what we always do. But I still haven’t won that weight championship.
“Doing this for my family and my team and for all the people who have invested in me over the years will be something new for all of us.”