Jon Jones is the greatest ever for many, including UFC CEO Dana White. And being the greatest comes with a few perks, such as getting paid very well. After all, the heavyweight champion has been making high-six/low-seven figures for his fights over the past decade, mostly at light heavyweight. But none of those purses come even close to the $3.5 million+ he made in his only heavyweight fight so far. For reference, that is more than twice Jones’ highest purse at 205 pounds.

In fact, this financial boost is one of the most important reason Jon Jones moved to the UFC’s heaviest division, Jones revealed in an interview with Sirius XM’s Jimmy Smith last year. That and because ‘Bones’ just got bored and didn’t feel challenged enough at light heavyweight, where he made sixteen title defenses and earned his GOAT spurs.

“I stopped studying footage as much, it started to feel more like another day at the office. The fear was gone. I didn’t really fear these guys. And I wasn’t happy with my pay, either. I’m stuck fighting guys like [Dominick] Reyes, who had been dreaming of fighting me probably since college, and [he] was just relatively unknown to the general public,” he said.

Jones wanted to feel the fear of possibly losing a fight, the thrill of preparing an opponent who could actually beat him, and that led him to move up to the UFC’s heaviest division. In fact, Jones felt that he had chosen to move up at a very good time for the 270-pound division, since there were never more skilled and dangerous guys in the division than there are now. Not to mention the obvious financial incentive to move up.

“So I just, I wanted more. I wanted to be nervous again. I wanted to have fear again. I think fear is healthy, and now we’re in this position. The heavyweight division has never been scarier, and I’m glad to be in the middle of it,” he added.

To be fair, Jones has fought just once at heavyweight, and absolutely dominated Ciryl ‘zero grappling’ Gane at their UFC 280 clash last year. And now, in perhaps his last fight, he is set to face a 42-year-old Stipe Miocic who hasn’t fought for the past three ears, and coming off a loss to boot. Many would point out that those are not the guys who would inspire a lot of fear in the champ. Unlike Tom Aspinall, the interim heavyweight champ and the most dangerous guy at 270, who is practically desperate to fight him. But Jones wants to do something else entirely.

Why Jon Jones wants to fight light heavyweights once again

Dana White has shot down Jon Jones’ idea of fighting light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira for the BMF title after taking care of Miocic at UFC 309. However, the GOAT contender has an alternative proposal. Having either fought for or defended a UFC title for as long as anyone could remember, the two-division champ now wants to fight for fun, and is happy to vacate his heavyweight title to do so.

One of the guys that he wants to fight, just because he thinks it would be a fun stylistic matchup is former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill. Of course, Jones has wanted to fight Pereira also, but since he is the 205-pound champ, that is unlikely to happen.

Unless that is, ‘Poatan’ also decides to vacate and fight Jones, widely considered the greatest ever – for the bragging rights (and the money it would make). To be fair, Jones is not just looking to pick on smaller guys, and even floated a Derrick Lewis fight just because of how fun that would be. What is common in all three men is that they are distinguished strikers and veritable knockout artists, who go into every fight with a kill-or-be-killed mentality.

Ironically, it seems after toiling for three years to bulk up and move up to heavyweight, Jones’s career may come full circle and he could end his career fighting a light heavyweight. There just remains the small challenge of convincing Dana White to let him do so. What do you think about Jon Jones’ reasons for moving up to heavyweight?