UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will not fight Alex Pereira.
That is according to Dana White. Bones is expected to fight Stipe Miocic when he returns from injury. He pulled out of their UFC 295 clash with a pectoral muscle injury. During his time away, Pereira was mentioned as a possible opponent. Jones said a Pereira fight was much bigger than facing Tom Aspinall. Alex is a two-weight world champion, as he suggested moving up after his KO win over Jiri Prochazka at UFC 300.
While Aspinall is the leading contender, he has yet to win a world title. Pereira stated that he would only move up a weight class if he could fight for the title, putting Jones as the leading contender. However, following Aspinall’s KO win over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, White revealed that Aspinall will face the winner of Jones-Miocic. That puts Pereira firmly out of the equation.
“NO!”
Dana White emphatically shuts down a future fight between Jon Jones and Alex Pereira 😲 pic.twitter.com/DtOYFojcOL
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 13, 2024
“No [they will not fight]. That was easy, that was quickly. Everybody on the internet is stupid. Anybody who thinks Jon Jones isn’t the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world should never be discussing fighting ever, period, end of story,” White said
Reaction
I know the chances are basically zero but Stipe could do the funniest thing ever.
— Fur Baby Woodworks (@Furbabywoodwrks) August 13, 2024
Greatest of all time sure. But how can you be the current P4P #1 fighter when you have 1 win in 4 years, and the fight before that against Reyes that even Dana said Jones lost 💀
— Elon Rakhmonov 🇦🇺 (@ElonRakhmonov) August 13, 2024
There’s a high possibility JONES will retire if he beats Stipe and he will push the “I defeated the heavyweight GOAT, nothing to prove” gimmick just to avoid fighting ASPINALL.
— Montecinas (@Montecinas) August 13, 2024