Shaquille O'Neal gets Dana White to spill beans on Jon Jones vs Alex Pereira UFC fight
On Shaquille O'Neal's newest episode of The Big Podcast, released this week, the Hall of Famer had UFC CEO Dana White on as a guest. As a sports fan who has long been interested in combat sports, Shaquille O'Neal spoke with White about some of the biggest happenings in the MMA world.
At one point, Shaquille O'Neal and Dana White discussed the possibility of a fight between light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, and heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The potential fight has been a hot topic among fans with many eager to see Pereira move up to heavyweight in pursuit of UFC history.
Throughout the course of professional MMA, no major organization, such as the UFC, has seen a fighter become a three-weight champion.
Many, including Pereira and Jones, have been able to become two-division champions, however, Pereira seems to be the first fighter to be in a position to potentially win titles in three divisions given his size. While speaking with Shaquille O'Neal, Dana White opened up on the possibility of a fight between the two (Start at 0:25):
"It's a possibility, I mean Rogan is pushing me right now to try to make that fight. It just- guys let me explain something to you Jon Jones is a whole another, Jon Jones is I consider Jon Jones The Greatest combat fighter of all time.
"When you talk about the Ali's, and the this, and that, and let me tell you what I got Ali's picture hung everywhere I love Muhammad Ali love Mike Tyson, Jon Jones is the nastiest dude ever in the history."
The three things currently standing in the way of the Jon Jones-Alex Pereira fight Shaquille O'Neal asked Dana White about
While fans have been clamoring for Alex Pereira to make the jump up to heavyweight to fight Jon Jones as Shaquille O'Neal suggested, there are currently several obstacles standing in the way of the potential fight.
First, Dana White has made it clear that Jon Jones is going to defend his title against Stipe Miocic when he returns to action, despite the fact that Miocic hasn't fought since 2021, and is coming off a loss. While there has been no official date announced yet for the bout, the pair are expected to collide in November.
Next, if Jones were to get through his fight with Miocic and retain the belt, he would then have to unify the heavyweight title against the winner of the upcoming UFC 304 clash between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes given that Jones has already fielded quite a bit of criticism for not unifying the belt immediately.
Finally, Alex Pereira still has work to do in his own weight class. Although he has made it clear that he will move up in weight if fans want him to, with Jones-Miocic next up, and a potential heavyweight unification fight after that, Pereira will look to defend his title against Magomed Ankalaev before potentially moving up in weight.
While all of that may put a damper on Shaquille O'Neal and the rest of the combat sports world's desire to see Jones and Pereira throw down, a fight between the two could still take place down the line assuming both continue to win, and Jones doesn't retire.