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Reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 205-pound champion Jon Jones continues to dominate at Light Heavyweight, and the only real contenders left for him in the division are Dan Henderson and Alexander Gustafsson, two fighters Jones (in my opinion) will most likely beat, and most likely before 2013 kicks in.
So, having said that, who else would be left for "Bones" to fight in his weight class?
Phil Davis could be a possibility if he manages to put in a good run and at this point, a "good run" could probably be as little as back-back wins, but one of those wins would have to be against an established contender and I get the feeling Davis will be facing Lyoto Machida sometime soon (and I don't see him winning), so a "Jones vs. Davis" match up is unlikely.
We could have some rematches, such as Jones vs. Mauricio Rua II or even Jones vs. Rashad Evans II, but the only one that's slightly appealing is the first match-up. Although "Bones" destroyed "Shogun," the only hype that can be brought is that Rua was just back from injury and didn't really look good, so now we will get the "real" Shogun.
Possibilities for good match-ups for Jones would be a certain Middleweight moving up to light heavyweight, yes, everyone is thinking Anderson Silva, but that won't be happening. Silva has made it clear he isn't moving up a class to fight, and if someone wants to fight him, they should move to his weight.
Not to mention the man is 37.
So if not Silva, then who? My candidates would be Vitor Belfort and Brian Stann, but more so Vitor. Both men have fought and accomplished success at 205 pounds, so why not a move back up for a top fight with Jones?
Also, with no viable contenders (assuming Jones defends), it makes this possibility all the more likely.
I mean if you have no fighters to fight, you need to bring people in, and a Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort match-up would be highly appealing. So too, would a Brian Stann match-up, and could you imagine the high amount of support Stann would receive due to his military background?
You could even throw Chael Sonnen in there, if he loses to "The Spider" (high probability), then a move up to light heavyweight makes some sort of sense.
Most people will say "Well, why doesn't Jones just move up to Heavyweight?"
That is the most logical conclusion, yet UFC President Dana White has made it clear that he doesn't want that happening. White is placing all his chips on Jones to be in the 205-pound division because they're building a star.
They want to build the Muhammad Ali of mixed martial arts (MMA), for goodness sakes, the UFC are sponsoring the man, and Dana knows that won't be happening at 265-pounds as Jones will most likely get his ass handed to him by the likes of "Cigano," Cain Velasquez, etc.
Do you agree? Why or why not?
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