Who Should Jon Jones Fight Next?

By JM “Shade” Daguio

Former light heavyweight title holder Jon “Bones” Jones looks to return earlier than expected, after an embarrassing series of events that saw the New Yorker fail his pre-fight drug test and his eventual departure from the UFC 200 card, Jon Jones is facing yet another challenge: Who to fight next?

Jones failed his drug test weeks prior to his fight in Las Vegas, it looked like Jones was facing a hefty fine and a very stiff penalty of suspension for two years, however, in recent events, it has been revealed that Jones may not have intentionally took performance enhancing drugs, USADA found traces of clomiphene, an anti-estrogenic substance, and Letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, both are banned in and out of competition.

The UFC President Dana White, who was previously livid with Jones due to his failed drug test was more optimistic with Jones’ chances of an early return:

“Well, it’s coming back now that it looks like he did not take the supplement that everybody thought he took” White said.

“I don’t even know if this is public. I didn’t know if I can talk about it. Normally, I talk about anything, but when it comes to medical stuff, you can’t do it. It’s looking like Jon Jones did not take the drug everybody thought he took. It looks like it’s something else.” White continued.

Well, that “something else” may have been a pill with a street name called CIALIS, the popular erectile dysfunction pill, which MMA media sources say have the aforementioned substances also found in that pill.
With these recent events still developing as we speak, Jones’ future is getting brighter. His next opponents are already being speculated upon, Dana White expressed his desire to see Jones fight clear no.1 contender Anthony “Rumble Johnson for the interim however, the champ Daniel Cormier also wants to give Johnson a chance for a title shot, Cormier doesn’t want to have anything to do with Jones after the UFC 200 fiasco.

“Won’t fight jones next. I am fighting rumble. He’s here. He’s deserving Won’t fight jones.” Cormier said via his twitter page. (dc_mma)

Assuming Cormier does fight Johnson, a great alternative for Jones would be to step up to heavyweight and fight a fringe top-15 heavyweight. It has been long speculated that Jones has quite the interest in stepping up to heavyweight and eventually working his way to a title shot. This should be his first dip in the heavyweight waters.

It’s also good for Jones to test his skills at heavyweight while the 205 lb. division is still shaping up, he can face capable heavyweights such as Gabriel Gonzaga, Todd Duffee or even the semi-retired Brendan Schaub, fighters that could give Jones a tough challenge but Jones can also beat.

From a promotional standpoint it’s very appealing, Jon Jones has a very real chance of losing in a heavyweight fight after going virtually undefeated in his whole career at light heavyweight, his critics would desire that but if he does win, his fanbase would explode and the thought of him becoming the baddest man on the planet and a two-division champ is very interesting, since money fights and cross-divisional fights have been very profitable for the UFC in light of the two fights by Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor, this could also be exploited by Jones, who is arguably the best pound for pound fighter on earth.

It’s very clear that Jones wants to be king at light heavyweight again, however, there’s a logjam in his weight class, to avoid the unfair situation of denying the deserving ones with the title shot, Jones should defer and explore the opportunity of venturing in the division, the rewards would be far greater to his brand and legacy as opposed to him staying and waiting to get the belt again, this would also give him the opportunity to erase his past mistakes and create his image of a world beater.

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