Why Jon Jones Vs Daniel Cormier III Must Happen In The Heavyweight Division
A few days ago, it was announced that Jon Jones will be facing off against Anthony Smith at UFC 235 on March 2 for the Lightweight Championship. This will be Jones' first title defence after he won the vacant strap against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 233 last month. The fight, however, is subject to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) clearing Jones and granting him a license for the fight. This comes after the NSAC refused to clear Jones on time for UFC 233 and the UFC had to move the entire card from Las Vegas to Los Angeles within a week.
Jones is the overwhelming favourite to beat Smith and retain the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. A lot has said about Jones future in the company with the New York-native saying that he would like to compete a lot more in 2019. But, realistically, there isn't anyone on 205 that can be considered a legitimate threat to Jones and we believe that it's time for him to move up to Heavyweight and face his arch-nemesis, the UFC Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Cormier.
Jones has spoken about his desire to move up to Heavyweight on various occasions. But when asked about the possibility of facing DC for third time at heavyweight, Jones has always been diplomatic and said he isn't interested in facing DC at Heavyweight as he believes that heavyweight is where DC would have an undue advantage and saying how this rivalry was never personal for him, unlike DC, who has always tried to discredit his legacy and his accomplishment and given a personal tinge to this bitter rivalry.
While Jones can go on pretending to be a good guy in the rivalry, the universal truth is that Daniel Cormier had taken away everything that could've been Jones, had he not messed his drug tests and went to self-sabotage his budding career.
After his KO win over Cormier, Jones went on to call out Brock Lesnar, thereby indicating that he isn't averse to the idea of moving up to heavyweight. Had he stayed cleaned and not gotten into trouble with the law enforcement agencies, Jones would've been a dual Champion. But, the fact that Cormier, a man whom he defeated twice, was grabbing all the headlines throughout the year must surely be eating Jones up inside, although he has tried not to express it in public.
While Jones got a shot at redemption by the virtue of his KO win over Gustafsson at UFC 233, Jones redemption will not be complete unless he faces Cormier and that too at Heavyweight to prove for once and all that he is truly the greatest fighter in UFC history.
The story is writing itself as this fight could well turn to be Cormier's swan song before he hangs up his gloves. Jones vs Cormier III needs to happen in Heavyweight to find out who truly is the greatest UFC fighter of all-time.