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Jon Jones Reveals Stunning Offer to Fight Old UFC Rival
Jon Jones revealed this week he’d been “approached” about competing once again with one of his oldest UFC rivals.
A fighter who dominated light heavyweight for so long that he’s regarded by consensus not only as the 205-pound GOAT, but across all weight classes, he has only fought twice at heavyweight since 2023. Regardless, in that short run in the top division, Jones won the heavyweight championship by submitting Ciryl Gane with ease, before finishing Stipe Miocic with a spinning back kick. Though he claimed retirement rather than unify the title against the interim champ Tom Aspinall, Jones continues to flirt with a comeback — particularly if such a bout were held at The White House, where he wants to fight Alex Pereira.
And, while he waits for a UFC contract for that Washington D.C. event tentatively scheduled for June, he has reportedly received interest to fight a familiar foe, albeit in a combat sport outside mixed martial arts.
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Jones has enjoyed many rivals in the UFC, some whom he has fought, and one he hasn’t. He fought a thriller with Alexander Gustafsson, who gave ‘Bones’ arguably one of the toughest tests of his entire career. There’s also the rivalry with Aspinall, whom he seemingly refuses to acknowledge, really, let alone fight.
And then, of course, there’s Daniel Cormier, a former Olympian and decorated multidisciplinary fighting competitor whose rivalry with Jones is seen as one of the most heated that the sport has ever seen. Jones beat him by decision in their first fight in 2015, before a knockout win two years later that was overturned and deemed a No Contest after Jones tested positive for a turinabol metabolite. According to Jones, there’s interest in the two of them competing for a third time.
“I was approached the other day about grappling DC for charity,” Jones told his near 3 million followers on X this week.
“I said, ‘Absolutely’. Let’s see what comes of it. 3-0.”
Jones appears to have signed off on the grappling match, saying, “Absolutely,” but it remains to be seen if the same approach was made to Cormier, and whether he’d accept. The UFC would also need to grant permission for Jones to compete outside the organization. And, while they’re reluctant to do that for big-ticket boxing bouts, they have tended to allow this for jiu jitsu tournaments and wrestling bouts.
The grappling offer wasn’t the only thing Jones shared with his followers, as he also reserved the highest of praise for his protege Gable Steveson, who is an accomplished wrestler and appears destined for the UFC one day — possibly, one day soon. Jones said: “My guy Gable is gonna be the top heavyweight on the planet within the next 14 months, mark my words.”
“He’s the perfect student. And we have so much to show him. It’s pretty exciting stuff.”
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