Now that Jon Jones is back in the fold and holding onto the UFC’s light heavyweight title it makes sense to start talking about a trilogy fight with rival and current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.
While Jones is currently scheduled to fight Anthony Smith at UFC 235 next month after being cleared by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), you can’t help but wonder who Jones will fight next, assuming “Lionheart” doesn’t pull off the upset of a lifetime.
In steps Cormier, who is currently ranked the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world after becoming a double champ in 2018. Cormier may have come up short against Jones twice before in the past, but he remains the most likely fighter to hand “Bones” his first legitimate loss.
Luckily for fight fans, Jones is looking to fight at least three times in 2019 and seems more than happy to lock horns with “DC.”
“Bring out the checkbook, Dana,” Jones told MMA Fighting's Marc Raimondi (shown above). “Let’s make it happen. I’ll definitely do it for the right number. I’ll definitely do it.”
The only obstacle in the way, outside of Jones’ ongoing struggle with picograms, is the fact that UFC may want Jones to move up in weight and fight Cormier at heavyweight. While their previous two contests have taken place at 205 pounds, the promotion would be stupid not to exploit the bad blood and have Jones try to take Cormier’s heavyweight belt to become the next two-division champion.
“At 205, it’s like a no-brainer that I’ll do it," said Jones. "I’m there to fight the next best guy. But to fight at heavyweight, I think it would take some serious convincing.”
We all know that "serious convincing" likely means a bigger paycheck. But if UFC is willing to pay Cormier $4 million to fight Derrick Lewis, Jones shouldn't have trouble squeezing out a little extra juice from the company bank.
First things first, “Bones” must keep clean and successfully defend his newly-acquired light heavyweight crown against Smith at UFC 235. After that, there aren’t too many suitors for Jones at light heavyweight so either Cormier can move back down or Jones can finally move up.