UFC Heavyweight champion Jon Jones will make his long-awaited return to the cage at UFC 309 to face Stipe Miocic.
Many are eager to see this epic battle, but others ask what will happen afterward. Both fighters have mentioned retiring after the fight, so it seems the title might remain vacant. Interim champion Tom Aspinall has called out heavyweight champ Jones many times and asked him for a title fight, but Jones seems content with pursuing other fighting prospects.
Shortly after he declared his return, Jones said he would be willing to vacate the title if he is given a BMF title bout with Alex Pereira.
“It’d be cool to fight over the heavyweight championship. I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship,” Jones told SportsNet on Monday. “I walked away from the light heavyweight championship. I’d love to walk away from this one as well on top, on [my] own terms. Good head on your shoulders, making lots of money. I love the position that I’m in right now.
“Fighting Pereira for the ‘BMF’ belt, that would be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes and the night we fought we’d both be fighting for our third belt, which would be the ‘BMF.’ How cool would that be?”
The BMF title originated after Jorge Masvidal defeated Nick Diaz in an epic battle. Since then, it has passed to Justin Gaethje and recently to Max Holloway, whom Ilia Topuria defeated in a featherweight bout.
Although the title itself has no weight class, Jones feels it’s a leveled playing ground for him and Alex Pereira to finally test out each other in a super fight and see who is really the greatest of all time.
The fighter may have his sight set on the BMF title but there’s still the heavyweight belt to ponder about. “Bones” has suffered multiple criticisms from fans and fighters for not agreeing to a match-up with Tom Aspinall, but the pound-4-pound fighter believes the interim title should never have been given to the British fighter in the first place.
Jones thinks he should have been given more time to heal and make a return. However, he doesn’t believe he owes Aspinall a fight and doesn’t plan on getting into the cage with him anytime soon.
“The interim championship shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Jones said. “The only reason why there was an interim championship fight was because I got hurt. They needed to keep the importance of that Madison Square Garden event. But Sergei [Pavlovich] and Aspinall shouldn’t have been fighting for an interim title in the first place.
“They should have just been a replacement fight. A main event fight. I think making it an interim [title] fight was premature. Now you have a bunch of confused people.”
When you have a dominant champion that’s been around as long as I have, there was no reason to put an interim championship belt out there.” Jones said. “That’s the repercussion of Madison Square Garden last year.”
