Jon Jones willing to relinquish heavyweight championship, pitches ‘BMF’ title fight against Alex Pereira
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Jon Jones might want to add another championship to his resume after UFC 309.
Just days away from returning to defend his UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the main event from Madison Square Garden in New York, the incumbent champion addressed his recent comments where he stated rather emphatically that he had no interest in facing off with Tom Aspinall but instead suggested a potential showdown with reigning light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
While he’s faced blowback for that declaration, Jones stands by his decision but he’s also not looking to hold up a division or stop Aspinall from claiming the title once he’s gone. In fact, Jones says as much as he likes the idea of defending the heavyweight title against Pereira, he’d be willing to give up that belt with hopes that a different championship could potentially go up for grabs.
“It’d be cool to fight over the heavyweight championship but I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship,” Jones told SportsNet on Monday. “I walked away from the light heavyweight championship. I’d love to walk away from this one as well on top, on [my] own terms, good head on your shoulders, making lots of money. I love the position that I’m in right now.
“Fighting Pereira for the ‘BMF’ belt, that would be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes and the night we fought we’d both be fighting for our third belt, which would be the ‘BMF.’ How cool would that be?”
Jones suggesting a “BMF” title fight throws a whole new wrinkle into this potential matchup, especially given his long history as arguably the greatest fighter of all-time while Pereira has quickly earned a reputation as one of the nastiest knockout artists to ever compete in the UFC.
There is a current “BMF” champion in Max Holloway but that belt isn’t exactly weight class specific.
The first ever “BMF” title went to Jorge Masvidal after he defeated Nate Diaz at welterweight and then the belt moved to Justin Gaethje following a vicious knockout over Dustin Poirier at lightweight. Gaethje then lost the belt to Holloway at UFC 300 but who’s to say a second “BMF” title couldn’t get introduced for Jones vs. Pereira?
As much as Jones likes that idea, he also takes issue with the way things have played after he essentially dismissed Aspinall as a possible opponent worthy of his attention.
Aspinall might have an interim title wrapped around his waist right now but Jones doesn’t believe that belt should have been introduced in the first place.
A torn pectoral muscle prevented him from fighting Miocic back in November 2023 and in his absence, the UFC crowned Aspinall as the new interim champion after he knocked out Sergei Pavlovich. In Jones’ opinion, that fight ultimately created more problems than it solved.
“The interim championship shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Jones said. “The only reason why there was an interim championship fight was because I got hurt and they needed to keep the importance of that Madison Square Garden event. But Sergei [Pavlovich] and Aspinall shouldn’t have been fighting for an interim title in the first place.
“They should have just been a replacement fight. A main event fight. I think making it an interim [title] fight was premature. Now you have a bunch of confused people.”
Jones believes he should have been given the opportunity to heal up from his injury and just return to defend the heavyweight championship without an interim title lingering in the shadows.
“When you have a dominant champion that’s been around as long as I have, there was no reason to put an interim championship belt out there,” Jones said. “That’s the repercussion of Madison Square Garden last year.”
