Alexander Gustafsson gave Jon Jones probably the toughest fight of his professional MMA career, and fans have been eagerly awaiting a rematch between the two. But it sounds like Jones is more interested in fighting someone else instead of rematching with Gustfasson.
UFC boss Dana White said on UFC.com program “The Download” that Jones is interested in fighting undefeated light heavyweight Daniel Cormier, who submitted Dan Henderson at UFC 173 in May.
“Just to clear up a couple things, people think we’re in contract negotiations with Jon Jones – we’re not,” White said via MMA Junkie. “Jon Jones still has five fights left on his contract. So what we’re doing right now is trying to get him to sign the bout agreement for Gustafsson. He doesn’t want to fight Gustafsson. … Lorenzo and I have a meeting with Jones on Thursday to get him to sign the bout agreement, and he’s asking to fight Cormier instead.”
White had previously said the organization was negotiating a deal with Jones, but that’s not the holdup.
Cormier is new to the light heavyweight division and has only fought at that weight his last two fights. Previously he was the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion before dropping down in weight.
Why might Jones want to fight Cormier instead of Gustafsson? First off, he’s already beaten Gustafsson, even if it was by a narrow margin. Secondly, Cormier has been calling him out since last year and talking a lot of trash in the meantime. I’m sure Bones wants to teach him a lesson. It’s not like they wouldn’t have a good fight, either.
