Jon Jones Says He Gave Up Light Heavyweight Championship To Fight Winner Of Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou

Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya’s rivalry on Twitter is going to extreme lengths. Both men have unleashed vicious personal attacks on each other in the last week. However, this is all technically about fighting at the end of the day. Fans expect all of this to lead into a Jones-Adesanya match down the line.

Saying ‘down the line’ is crucial, as both men have set goals for the immediate future. Adesanya wants to keep defending his belt, eyeing a bout with Jared Cannonier next. On the other hand, Jones announced a move to heavyweight and relinquished his Light Heavyweight Championship. However, he is yet to announce a fight, an opportunity Izzy saw and jumped towards.

Jones cites needing to put on weight as a reason for his delayed booking. He has only been linked with either Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic and number one contender Francis Ngannou. Jones addressed his booking situation after Adesanya fans called him out for ‘ducking’ Ngannou.

Jon Jones waiting for the winner of Miocic-Ngannou?

It is hard to buy this statement by Jones on face value. Ngannou has been asking for the Stipe match for a while but has struggled to get it. If the plan was for Jones to fight the winner of that match, why isn’t there an update on that situation? Ngannou recently told The Schmo that he asked for Stipe in December. With the fight between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns being rescheduled for early 2021, UFC 256 needs a main event.

However, the validity of Jones fighting even after that is questionable. Izzy was the first person to point that out, tweeting an article in which Jones said he will move to Heavyweight in 2013. It is 2020 now, and we are still waiting to see a fight for Jones in that division.

Whether or not Jones commits to his move to heavyweight, we know for sure that he would love to smack Adesanya inside the cage. But one thing that Jones’s career has promised us is that we cannot predict his next move. Whatever he wants to do will eventually find a way of happening, Be it a Heavyweight title shot or a grudge fight against Adesanya.