Who is Jon Jones fighting next? It better be Tom Aspinall, right? If there is a semblance of justice in the world, Jones defends his undisputed UFC heavyweight title against interim champion Aspinall. But it seems, another opponent that Jones has been far more inclined to duel with, is more than happy to fight with him and is just waiting for the UFC to put in the paperwork.
Even as he was lining up to face Stipe Miocic for his first title defense at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Jones had practically issued a challenge at the light heavyweight champion, Pereira. Admittedly, he was trying to dodge the Aspinall question posed by scribes but the fact remains that Jones vs. Pereira has all the ingredients to be a blockbuster fight.
Since then, Pereira has asserted that Jones would first need to fight Aspinall and defend his title before taking him on. But now, just weeks ahead of his own title defense against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313, Pereira is re-igniting the Jones torch.
Claiming that it was now up to bossman Dana White, the light heavyweight champion said –
“There is an interest. There is a potential. Even Jon Jones expressed himself. We wanted to do it. We want! Now, its up to the UFC to make it happen.”
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Pereira has long spoken about his desire to move up another weight class and fight for the title. The gain in weight won’t really be a problem for him either, since he was moving around at 235 lbs just a month out of the Anklaev fight anyway.
Alex Pereira steps on the scale a month out from the Magomed Ankalaev fight
⚖️ 235 lbs
@AlexPereiraUFC #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/Dp8mfx1Dt2
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 5, 2025
However, the Ankalaev fight will be a sort of a test for him to prove he can hang with Jones at heavyweight. Pereira, through his title runs at middleweight and light heavyweight, is yet to face a world-class grappler or wrestler inside the octagon. This is despite him fighting thrice last year.
Co-incidence or not, it does warrant knowing if he actually has a ground game or any sort of defense to it. Because you bet, Jones will push him into the ground as soon as he can.
Why White remains skeptical about Jones vs. Pereira
Even if Pereira manages to figure out Ankalaev’s grappling at UFC 313 and wins, Jones will still be light years away from the kind of development he would need to win that third title.
Ankalaev might be Dagestani but he’s nowhere as skilled in grappling and wrestling as Khabib Nurmagomedov or Islam Makhachev. He is good enough to be in contention throughout a fight and then mix it up with some clean striking.
But Jones does more than that. The UFC heavyweight champion has fought Olympians like Daniel Cormier and managed to hold his own and win.
This is exactly why White has never been too keen on letting him fight Pereira. ‘Poatan’ vs Jones, though excitable, could very well end up destroying the legend of one of these fighters.
During the UFC 309 post-PPV presser, White explained as much and said,
“You know what tonight told me? There’s no f**king way I make the (Jones vs.) Pereira fight. Jones is too big. Great wrestler. See, how he took Stipe down in that first round? I like Alex Pereira. I like him personally. It just doesn’t make sense to make that fight. If they both want it bad enough and if they both f***ing hounding me or something, maybe I would do it. “
Well, it doesn’t seem like either fighter is hounding him yet but perhaps in a few months time if both still have their respective titles, White might want to revisit the matter.
