Dana White says Jon Jones may retire after Stipe Miocic fight
According to UFC president Dana White, Jon Jones’ MMA career may be over after he fights Stipe Miocic.
“I wouldn’t be shocked … if he fights Stipe (Miocic) and then retires and doesn’t fight again,” the UFC president told TMZ Sports.
Quote via The Score
It is not crazy to think Jones only has one fight left in the tank. At UFC 285, Jones cemented his legacy as the greatest fighter of all time when he submitted Ciryl Gane. A fight against Miocic gives him a chance to add to his resume as Miocic is widely considered the greatest heavyweight in UFC history. That should be enough motivation to get him in the cage one more time.
If Jones is able to get a win over Miocic there will not be much left for him in MMA. At that point, he would be left to defend the belt against top contenders like Sergei Pavlovich, Curtis Blaydes, Tom Aspinall, and so on. With all due respect to those fighters, when you defend the belt as many times as Jones has it is tough to find the motivation for those fights.
Although, if Miocic is able to get the jump on Jones, which is possible, a rematch would be likely. It would be hard to imagine that Jones would not get a shot a redemption considering he does not have a legitimate loss in his career.
The unknown factor in this entire equation is Francis Ngannou. I would not be surprised if Jones decides to hang it up after the Miocic fight, but if the UFC can get Ngannou back in the promotion things could change quickly. In fairness, that seems unlikely. Regardless, that fight could be the biggest fight of Jones’ career. It is hard to imagine he walks away if that option is on the table. That has been the heavyweight fight that he has always wanted.
On a more selfish note, I hope we get more than one more fight from Jones. I completely understand if he retires and I would not criticize him for it. Still, I’d love to see him chase the UFC heavyweight title defenses record. At a minimum, it would be entertaining. If he pulls it off, it would be historic.
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