Jon Jones Might Not Make Heavyweight Debut Until 2023
Jon Jones might have to wait a bit longer for his heavyweight debut.
The former light heavyweight champion has continuously talked about making a return to the octagon by the end of this year, but those plans were seemingly crushed after the UFC announced a rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira as the main event.
UFC just announced that Prochazka vs. Teixeira will headline UFC 282 in December. That seems to mean Jones vs. Miocic is off the table for the end of year show pic.twitter.com/aWkoBBj5jD
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) October 25, 2022
Just hours before the announcement, Jones said on Twitter that he was preparing to fight former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic on the last UFC PPV of the year on December 10.
I’m preparing to fight Stipe December 10 in Las Vegas. Not really sure what’s going on between Stipe and the UFC but I’m ready to compete! I’m going to control what I can and stay in shape. https://t.co/3Ouu9Xk8Ns
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 25, 2022
Rumors of that fight have been swirling for a while now, but it’s unclear when it’ll actually happen.
Jones has been training to make his debut at heavyweight for nearly three years.
He has not fought since defeating Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in 2020. He vacated his long-held title shortly after.
But current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou also continues to lurk in the background.
He has been rehabbing a knee injury that he sustained before his title defense in January, and is likely to return sometime in 2023 for what may be his last fight with the promotion.
Earlier this year, Jones said on social media that he feels that his time in the light heavyweight division is long gone. He believes that he’s destined to fight at the heavyweight level.