UFC champion Jon Jones is no longer interested in moving up to the heavyweight division because he believes there are plenty of challenges for him at light heavyweight.
Jones (19-1) is set to face Glover Teixeira (22-2) Saturday at UFC 172 in Dallas, which could be a challenge even if Jones is listed as a heavy favorite. Beyond that, he has a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson to take care of and then some other potential fights. He says that has his attention more than heavyweight matchups.
“I have no interest [in fighting Cain Velasquez] at this point,” Jones said during Monday’s UFC 172 conference call via 5th Round. “There’s a lot of great competition for me to test myself against [at light heavyweight].
“Glover Teixeira, obviously, being first on the agenda. What a great challenge that will be. People are interested in rematches [with Alexander Gustafsson]. Phil Davis said he’s going to crumble me like a cookie. Lots of competition left for me and I’m excited to meet them all.”
I used to feel like Bones had to move up to heavyweight to really be tested, but his close fight with Gustafsson at UFC 165 in September changed my mind. I’m very intrigued to see the fights with Teixeira and Gustafsson for now and think that Jones definitely has a lot on the line against them. If he’s able to win a few of these tough ones, then maybe heavyweight might be the way to go. But for now, he definitely has some interesting competition ahead of him.
