Jon Jones had one of the shortest retirements in history after he called it a career this past June and then walked back that decision just days later after learning the UFC was planning to hold a historic event at the White House this coming June.
The former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion immediately threw his name into the mix as a potential headliner for the card with eyes on a megafight against fellow two-division titleholder Alex Pereira. That matchup was so enticing that Pereira repeatedly stated his preference to face Jones next, although more recently he revealed he doesn’t expect to compete at the UFC White House card.
While matchmaking for that event is not expected to start until February, Jones is understandably losing hope he gets to fight there, much less see Pereira standing across the octagon from him.
“Pereira wants to fight me but I don’t think Dana White’s going to allow that to happen,” Jones told Red Corner MMA. “It will be interesting to see what Dana wants.”
Those outside-the-cage issues may ultimately doom Jones from competing at the White House. If so, he has to decide if that nixes any chance he ever fights again.
If Jones is out of the picture, Pereira still has plenty of options available to him including a light heavyweight title defense against a top contender such as Carlos Ulberg or perhaps testing himself at heavyweight where Tom Aspinall is currently champion.
Another potential challenger for Pereira in the future could be current UFC middleweight king Khamzat Chimaev, who has repeatedly stated his intention to eventually test himself at 205 pounds.
Jones definitely likes that idea after he spent some time with Chimaev recently and he had high praise for the current UFC middleweight champion.
“I think Khamzat Chimaev could win at any weight,” Jones said. “I think he’s one of the top fighters on the planet right now. I think he’s big enough to compete with heavyweights. I think he’s still small enough to go down. I think he makes a great welterweight.
“I’d love to see him at light heavyweight. I think he’d do great against guys like [Alex] Pereira and [Magomed] Ankalaev and these guys.”
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