Jon Jones may or may not continue fighting beyond UFC 309, but if he does, the reigning heavyweight champion has declared he would be willing to return for one more fight against light heavyweight king Alex Pereira over Tom Aspinall.

Complicating Jones’ wish is the fact that Aspinall currently is the UFC interim heavyweight champ, a title he claimed in November 2023 with a knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. That door was opened only because Jones suffered a pectoral injury that forced him to withdraw from his original date with Stipe Miocic.

If Jones, who’s flirted with retiring after UFC 309, defeats Miocic and continues his career beyond Saturday night’s main event, many (perhaps even the majority of) fans and pundits believe he should unify the title with Aspinall, UFC CEO Dana White among them. But as far Jones is concerned, those people are simply misguided.

“Well, the interim championship shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Jones said Monday in an interview with Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter. “The only reason there was an interim championship fight was because I got hurt, and they needed to keep the importance of that Madison Square Garden event (UFC 295). But Sergei and Aspinall shouldn’t have been fighting for an interim title in the first place. They should’ve just been a replacement fight, a main event. I think making it an interim fight was premature, and now you have a bunch of confused people.”

Jones vs. Pereira for the BMF title?

When considering a future fight with Pereira or Aspinall, Jones views “Poatan” as the matchup that will help his legacy more, which is important to him. After all, it’s why Jones is fighting Miocic, who’s widely considered the greatest heavyweight of all time, instead of Aspinall, despite the former champ’s three-and-a-half-year layoff.

Pereira, who’s the same age as Jones (37), brings even more to the table in terms of credentials, having claimed the UFC middleweight title by knocking out Israel Adesanya before he moved up to Jones’ old stomping grounds of light heavyweight and winning four consecutive title fights.

If it’s the status of the heavyweight champion that has everyone up in arms about why he should fight Aspinall, Jones is willing to vacate in order to make a Pereira showdown happen.

“It’d be cool to fight (Pereira) for the heavyweight championship, but I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship,” Jones said. “I walked away from the light heavyweight championship, and I’d love to walk away from this one, as well, on top, on (my) own terms, good head on (my) shoulders, making lots of money. I love the position that I’m in right now.”

Jones even has an idea for the UFC to consider should a fight with Pereira come to fruition.

“Fighting Pereira for the BMF belt, that’d be cool,” Jones said. “We both have two belts in two weight classes. The night we fought, we’d both be fighting for our third belt, which would be the BMF. How cool would that be?”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Nelms and chairman Tim Keyes have both now been at Dens Park for 11 years and it has been one of their aims since the American duo took ownership of the club to build a new stadium for the first team.

Land near Camperdown Park has been purchased, but there have been various false starts during their tenure regarding the project. Nelms, however, hopes that work can begin in the not too distant future.

“We have a hearing in January for the stadium and we will be pushing to get in there as soon as possible,” Nelms said. “Sometimes my timeframes are a bit optimistic, but my job is to push and push until we get the job done. We will be in there as soon as we possibly can.

“Realistically, it will be at least one more season at Dens. I would like to have potentially some test events in the stadium before we get it ready for the fans. So, when the fans come in, it will be a relatively smooth operation.

“At one point, we were ahead of schedule in terms of building a new stadium – now we are behind schedule. It’s the system and how the system works. It’s not the people.

“Although frustrating, I think, with a little bit of patience, we will set up the organisation and have that for the city for the next 100 years.”

Nelms says leaving Dens Park will be a wrench for many fans but is necessary for the club to move forward.

“Dundee is our spiritual home and it will be hard to walk away from Dens Park,” he added.

“It’s not something we take lightly and we know how much it means to the fans, but we are in the entertainment business and we are trying to put in a 21st century entertainment in a 19th century building. It’s very difficult.”

The Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight card, start time is for Friday night’s highly anticipated heavyweight showdown at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 2 no-contests) hasn’t fought since an exhibition draw with legend Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 28, 2020. The 58-year-old hasn’t had a professional fight in almost 20 years when he quit at the end of the sixth round against Kevin McBride on June 11, 2005.

Jake Paul (10-1) is coming off a sixth-round knockout of BKFC star Mike Perry on July 20, 2024. He has won four fights in a row.

The Tyson vs. Paul fight card will kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET on the prelims, and will be on MMA Fighting.

Shadasia Green vs. Melinda Watpool

Lucas Bahdi vs. Armando Casamonica

Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington vs. Dana Coolwell

The Tyson vs. Paul will then head to Netflix at 8 p.m. ET. This portion of the card is as follows:

Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson

Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 2

Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes

Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos

While the Dallas Cowboys wait for word on possible season-ending surgery for Dak Prescott’s torn hamstring, they don’t have a healthy quarterback or head coach under contract beyond this season.

The pursuit of a fourth consecutive playoff trip isn’t dead yet, but it’s close — even in the unlikely scenario that Prescott avoids surgery and returns.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones is left to assess the future of coach Mike McCarthy without the franchise QB, and the offseason decision on Prescott’s backup won’t be easy either.

“My criteria has always been how we’re playing,” Jones said after Sunday’s 34-6 loss to Philadelphia. “Do we have an edge? Are we fundamentally, are we competitive? Are we competitive when we’re down? Those kinds of things.”

The Cowboys (3-6), who made the playoffs at 12-5 each of the past three seasons, are 0-4 at home and on a four-game losing streak heading into a visit from AFC South-leading Houston (6-4) on Monday night.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, who spent four years in charge of the Cowboys two decades ago, used to say a team is what it’s record is. Jones still quotes him from time to time.

“Not as much obviously, the score, what does Bill say you are, what the score tells you you are,” Jones said as he continued his explanation on assessing McCarthy. “But still, you look at all of those things and there’s no fairness. Let me be real clear, nobody’s trying to be fair here. We’re trying to win a game. There’s no joy here without winning games.”

Cooper Rush started in place of Prescott and played poorly. Hope that he could match his 4-1 record from two years ago when Prescott was out with a broken thumb faded quickly. He had 45 yards passing and lost two fumbles.

McCarthy, who told reporters that he had not spoken to Prescott on Monday, did confirm Rush would continue under center for the Cowboys, saying “Yes, Cooper Rush will be the starter this week.”

“We have a lot of faith in Cooper. Like I stood up here last week [and said], everybody believes in him. How can you not, based off the way he’s performed?” McCarthy added.

Trey Lance, who flamed out as the 2021 No. 3 overall pick in San Francisco and came to Dallas in a trade last year, wasn’t much better Sunday. He came in for Rush and threw for 21 yards with an interception in his first action since throwing five picks in the preseason finale.

“I thought he did some good things and, you know, definitely some things he can learn from,” McCarthy said of Lance. “It was good to get him in there.” 

A week ago, McCarthy wasn’t ready to address the question of outside help at quarterback. It’s a more urgent issue — McCarthy confirmed a third QB is on the way as the team reportedly plans to add Will Grier to their practice squad.

The Eagles released Grier from their practice squad last week. He was previously on the Cowboys during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but they cut him before the start of the 2023 season.

The Cowboys have dealt with their share of QB injuries, and subsequent struggles, in recent years.

When Tony Romo broke his collarbone early in the 2015 season, the Cowboys lost all seven games before his return. After Prescott’s season-ending ankle injury in Week 5 of 2020, a four-game losing streak followed.

The trail is littered with attempted replacements while trying to stay in contention: Matt Cassel and Brandon Weeden nine years ago. Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci and Garrett Gilbert during the infamous COVID-19 season.

Plus, the Dallas offense was sputtering before Prescott tore his hamstring in the 27-21 loss to Atlanta a little more than a week ago.

“We’re gonna have to play better than we’re playing right now,” Jones said. “I don’t know that there’s answers outside the organization, but we’re flat gonna have to play better at all positions.”

What’s working

Micah Parsons didn’t miss a beat in his return after missing four games with a high ankle sprain. The star pass rusher sacked Jalen Hurts twice, the second causing a fumble that gave Dallas a chance to take the lead in the second quarter. The Cowboys couldn’t get the 6 yards needed for a touchdown, kicked a field goal for a 7-6 deficit and never had a similar chance the rest of the game.

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“I thought he gave us a lift there,” Jones said. “And of course, he’s wonderful to have on the field. But you know, one player can’t get it done.”

What needs help

The giant sliding windows beyond the west end zone at AT&T Stadium could use some curtains, as All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb suggested after losing a potential go-ahead touchdown pass in the sun in the second quarter. The problem is, it’s not going to happen. Jones doesn’t want them.

Stock up

LB DeMarvion Overshown led Dallas with eight solo tackles and matched Parsons with two sacks.

Stock down

RB Ezekiel Elliott had a costly fumble into the end zone with Dallas poised to take the lead in the second quarter. He finished with 22 yards a week after getting left at home for disciplinary reasons.

Injuries

DeMarvion Overshown, who missed all of his rookie season in 2023 with a torn knee ligament, had a scare with a knee injury in the second half. But he returned.

Key number

82-22 — The third-quarter score for the Dallas opponent this season. The NFL’s next-worst point differential in the third after the Cowboys’ minus-60 is Cleveland at minus-34.

Next steps

The Cowboys are halfway through a four-game stretch against teams with winning records. If they go 0-4, they could be well on their way to their highest draft position based on their record since taking Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman No. 1 overall in 1989. Elliott was the fourth overall pick in 2016.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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