"The division quit being interesting" - Chael Sonnen weighs in on why Jon Jones left light heavyweight
Jon Jones spent almost a decade at the top of the UFC's light heavyweight division. Jones defended his strap for the 13th time against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February 2020 and hasn't returned to the octagon since.
Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen believes Jones walked away from the light heavyweight division due to a lack of interest. According to Sonnen, Jones thought he had a dearth of worthy opponents at 205 pounds.
Speaking in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen said:
"When you would go to a Jon Jones fight, you had people that were dressed up as empty seats. Less and less people had an interest, that's the way the story would be told. I don't know that I agree. I don't know that people lost interest in Jon. I think Jon lost interest in the division. I think that division quit being interesting to Jon. I think maybe Jon did look at some of those opponents as though they are not worthy, they don't belong here, 'I'm going to go in here, do what I do and 25 minutes later I'm getting my hand raised yet again.'"
Catch Chael Sonnen weighing in on Jon Jones' return below:
Chael Sonnen explains Jon Jones' move up to heavyweight
Jon Jones was expected to make a return to the octagon last year at heavyweight. In his latest video, Chael Sonnen explained the motivation behind Jones moving up a weight class.
I feel like I move pretty good for a fat boy, I believe I’ll be moving at my all-time best once I actually get in shape https://t.co/qjEsXfShid
According to Sonnen, the heavyweight division caught Jones' interest as it has some top tier opponents. Sonnen named Stipe Miocic, Ciryl Gane and Francis Ngannou as potential foes for 'Bones'.
"Jon needed to get his interest back. I think that's what heavyweight represents. Jon is not going to see people dressed up as empty seats for a meaningful period of time. There are three mega, not just big, not just massive, I'm going one more...'mega' fights waiting for him right now. Stipe Miocic, Ciryl Gane, Francis Ngannou. Any way you wanna do it and any order that you want to do it in. Those are going to be some fascinating matches."
With his return to action slated for the first half of 2022, fans look set to finally witness Jones back inside the cage. Whether or not he can find success as a heavyweight remains to be seen.