Remember these plans Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had of moving up to the heavyweight division and fighting for that title, as well? It seems that idea has been scrapped, as "Bones" says he has more than enough work to do in the 205-pound division.
This, despite the fact that "Bones" is close to doing what Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Siva did before him, and that's clean out his respective weight class.
According to Jones, the light heavyweight division has a few new (and old) challenges left for him to conquer.
His words during Monday's (April 21, 2014) UFC 172 media conference call (via MMA Fighting):
"Somebody was asking me about possibly fighting Cain Velasquez, and I answered to that, I have no interest at this point. There's a lot of great competition for me to test myself against, Glover Teixeira obviously being first on that agenda. What a great challenge he will be. People are interested in rematches. I got Phil Davis [also on the call] saying he'll crumble me like a cookie. So, yeah, lots of competition left for me, and I'm excited to meet them all."
Indeed, Jones will attempt to defend his 205-pound strap for the seventh consecutive time this weekend (April 26, 2014) when he takes on Glover Teixiera in the main event of UFC 172 in Baltimore, Maryland (results).
Should he get through "G-Tex," then a rematch against Alexander Gustafsson is next on his agenda. After that, "Bones" can look forward to finally settling his bitter-rivalry with Daniel Cormier.
He may also have the chance to exorcise the remaining UFC 151 demons and put the final nail in the coffin of that botched pay-per-view (PPV) event by taking on Dan Henderson in the light heavyweight title fight that never saw the light of day.
He also has Phil Davis lurking in the shadows, waiting for his crack at the crown, as well. Should he get through all of those contenders, perhaps there will be no choice but to move up in weight.
Thoughts?