"I'm prepared to vacate the heavyweight championship" - Jon Jones wants "super fights only" after UFC 309, name-drops potential opponents
Jon Jones recently shared some thoughts on his future career moves. The reigning UFC heavyweight king stated he was open to vacating the championship after his next fight and looked forward to "super fights" against stylistically attractive opponents.
Jones is set to face Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight title fight at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York this weekend. While Jones has had his sights fixed on Miocic for a while, he's also faced consistent callouts from interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who's looking for an opportunity to unify the title. However, Jones isn't keen on it and has largely dismissed the Englishman's challenge.
During a recent interview, Jones appeared to double down on his dismissal of Aspinall by stating that he's willing to relinquish the heavyweight title and fight for his own pleasure. He said:
"I could see myself, after this, entertaining super fights only. After this fight, if I get a dominant performance, I'm prepared to vacate the heavyweight championship and fight for fun. I want to fight for fun. I've had a big chip on my shoulder my whole career. I've had to defend, defend, and defend."
He continued:
"Just fighting guys that I stylistically want to fight against. Just random fights, Jamahal Hill, me and him meet at 220 [pounds] and see what happens... I can fight light heavyweights or heavyweights. Derrick Lewis - biggest knockout puncher in history. I'm just throwing out random names... Let's see if Dana allows me to do it or not."
Jon Jones explains why Tom Aspinall doesn't deserve to fight him
Jon Jones recently broke down why he believed Tom Aspinall shouldn't be facing him in the cage. It's no secret that Aspinall's been trolling Jones' on social media over the past few months and has been consistent in his callouts.
In a UFC 309 media day interview, Jones addressed the Englishman's behavior toward him and claimed he's ruined the chance to "do business" with him. He said:
''I'm being completely honest, I feel like Tom's [Aspinall] been such an a**hole that I don't want to do business with him. It's just like his fans have been so annoying... I'm like, bro if you had a little bit more respect, then maybe we could have worked something out."
He continued:
''I just don't even want to do business with him. At the end of the day, this is a business, and fighting me gives him an opportunity to change his life forever, and I don't even want to give him the opportunity, like he just played his cards wrong with me personally.''
Catch Jon Jones' comments below (21:58):