Jon Jones: UFC superfight with Chris Weidman would be 'phenomenal'
Could there be another superfight in Jon Jones’ future besides one with Cain Velasquez?
Jones said Friday that a matchup between him and fellow New York native Chris Weidman would be “phenomenal” and he would be open to it down the line.
“I think it would be awesome,” Jones said at the UFC Fight Club Q&A before the UFC 169 weigh-ins at Prudential Center.
The fan who asked him about it mentioned it being at Madison Square Garden for UFC 200. Jones, the UFC light heavyweight champion, seemed into the idea of meeting his middleweight counterpart. Of course, MMA would have to first be legalized in New York State. And UFC 200 is likely more than two years away.
Jones, 26, admittedly is not ready to leave 205 pounds. He meets Glover Teixeira on April 19 at UFC 172 in Baltimore. After that, he’s candid about targeting fights with Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier. Gustafsson would be a rematch of the toughest fight of Jones’ career -- and arguably 2013’s Fight Of The Year.
“I think I still have a lot of work to do in the light heavyweight division,” Jones said.
After that, Jones has made it no secret that he’d like to challenge UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. That’s arguably the biggest fight the UFC can put together at this point in time, especially with Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva both out in indefinitely.
“If I moved up to heavyweight, I would hope to get a title shot right away,” Jones said.
The upstate New York native floated the idea of holding both belts at the same time. But he said he’d want to put on the proper weight to match up with a guy like Velasquez. He wasn’t sure if he’d go back to 205 after that.
As for Weidman, he has to fight Vitor Belfort with the title on the line in either May or July. There’s also no shortage of title contenders at 185 -- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Lyoto Machida, Luke Rockhold and Gegard Mousasi are all still out there. Plus, Silva could return to the UFC before the end of 2014, UFC president Dana White said this week.
So how would Jones do against Weidman? He didn’t want to trash talk the Long Island native, but obviously he thinks he’d win.
“I’m very confident,” Jones said. “I’m a very confident young man.”
