Jon Jones Hints At His UFC Return
MMA Fans have been waiting for the return of Jon “Bones” Jones. It has been over two years since his last fight at UFC 247. He has spent this time bulking to move up a division and test the waters at heavyweight. The pieces have begun to fall together, and it seems like his return may come sooner rather than later. Jones has thrown gas on the fire as he took to Twitter to express his plans for the future and hint at a return fight at UFC 282.
UFC 282 is scheduled to take place on December 10, in Las Vegas, Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena. The UFC loves to close the year with a stacked December pay-per-view. In the last handful of years, we have seen tremendous cards like UFC 269 and UFC 245 close out the calendar. The UFC could top both of those cards, with Jones as the UFC 282 headliner.
The question that we do not have answered is, who will Jones face at UFC 282? The likely answer to that question would be Stipe Miocic. Miocic would be a tremendous fighter to welcome Jones to the division. He may not be the champion at the moment, but he is a former champion and arguably the division’s GOAT. For Jones, this would add a massive name to his resume. The other obvious answer is the heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. The issue with that fight is it is very unlikely that Ngannou will be able to fight in December as he is recovering from knee surgery. There is a pair of sleepers that could earn a fight with Jones. Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa are headlining UFC Paris on September 3. If one of these fighters wins impressively, they may be able to position themselves to fight Jones in December. Still, Miocic is far and away the favorite.
Jones also laid out what he wants his first heavyweight title fight to look like.
I will not go as far as to say Jones will walk through the top of the heavyweight division, but others have. Jones said he was not impressed with Ngannou, his coach said he beats Ngannou and Miocic, and his rival Daniel Cormier said he is the biggest threat to Gane. That covers the three highest-ranked heavyweights on the roster.
The UFC certainly could use Jones on UFC 282. At the moment, the only fight that is booked for the event is Robbie Lawler vs Santiago Ponzinibbio. There are also rumors of the UFC adding a rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira, but that is not official. If Jones is added to UFC 282, do not be surprised if Teixeira vs Prochazka is moved to another card, as the UFC will likely not want a heavyweight and light heavyweight championship fight on the same card. That is, unless they want to create one of the best fight cards of all time.
