Jon Jones is among the best pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, if not the best. He is looking to defend his UFC light heavyweight championship for the sixth straight time when he faces Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 on Saturday night. Jones is 18-1 and has only lost by disqualification, so he has never really been defeated by an opponent in the octagon. Many don’t think he’ll be challenged in the UFC unless he moves up to heavyweight. But Jones does have another challenge in mind.
During an interview with FOX 11’s James Koh in Los Angeles last week, Jones said he wanted to fight one of the Klitschko brothers in boxing to see if he could become a world champion in two combat sports.
“The thought of boxing has become way more real to me and it’s something I may be entertaining in the future, for sure,” Jones told Koh.
“[I’d like to fight] one of the Klitschko brothers,” said Jones, who believes he could compete with them. “You surround yourself with the right people and have a good healthy camp, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible for me to compete with those guys. You never know, maybe I’ll be able to come away with a victory against one of those guys.”
If Jones were to fight one of the Klitschkos, the more realistic possibility is Wladimir, who is the WBA, IBO, WBO and IBF champion. Vitali is the WBC champion, but he is 42, a politician in Ukraine, and hasn’t fought in over a year.
Jones would like his shot at one of them.
“Why not take the shot? Why not give you the chance to be great, to be a world champion in two different sports,” Jones told FOX 11. “So yeah, a lot of people may think I’m crazy for even thinking about it but the only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves and I just don’t believe in limiting myself.”
“I have a great chin on me, intelligence, work ethic,” Jones said. “I believe in studying my opponents and basically if you break down your opponent and you surround yourself with the right people, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible to compete with those guys. You never know, maybe even come out with a victory.”
If Jones thinks it’s so easy to step into a boxing ring against one of the Klitschkos, who are both massive, why won’t he move up to heavyweight in MMA? That seems like the more realistic challenge for now. Still, if Jones were to ever fight a Klitschko, I’d love to see it. And you know my pick would be with the Ukrainians.
