Alexandre Pantoja wants a fight between Alex Pereira and Jon Jones next. He believes it will do wonders, as fans will be interested to witness a clash between two of the biggest names in the sport.
Pereira the current light heavyweight champion has built up a brand of his own and is a big PPV draw at the moment. Jones, on the other hand, is one of the greatest MMA fighters to step into the octagon. Hence, the fight will have everything one needs for a mega event.
Although ‘Bones’ has his eyes set on Stipe Miocic as his only opponent, Pantoja recently appeared on the ‘Show Me the Money’ Podcast, where he spoke about why the Jones vs Pereira fight needs to materialize, saying,
“Pereira, that’s the big fight to happen. I think Dana White can’t lose that opportunity…That’s a big fight in the UFC.”
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When talking about potential opponents, Jon Jones did mention Alex Pereira in one instance. However, fans want him to fight the UFC interim heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall.
Fans keep calling ‘Bones’ out for ducking Aspinall and trying to fight everyone but him. However, at the same time, Alex Pereira is looking to move up to heavyweight in the future, so a fight against Jones will make complete sense.
Nevertheless, amidst all the talk regarding Jones’ next fight, a debate broke out on who the UFC should rank as #1 in the P4P list and Dana White was very clear.
Dana White defends Jon Jones for keeping the #1 P4P spot despite Islam Makhachev’s UFC 302 performance
Islam Makhachev put on an impressive performance in a dogfight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. Following the fight, the media asked Dana White about the P4P rankings.
There was a lot of buzz online about Makhachev going up to the #1 spot after his performance. However, in the post-fight press conference, White made his stance clear as to why Jon Jones is still number one, saying,
“I think he’s (Makhachev) incredible, I don’t think he’s the P4P best fighter in the world…As long as Jon Jones is still fighting, active, and in the rankings, nobody is P4P best fighter in the world.”
Dana White feels anybody who has Islam Makhachev above Jon Jones on the P4P list is “nuts” #UFC302
“You throw Jon Jones in a room [to fight] with anybody, Jon Jones walks out of the room.” pic.twitter.com/tjXZkel6IM
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) June 2, 2024
Dana White had nothing but words of praise for Jones and defended his opinion well. He also spoke about how ‘Bones’s’ resume tells you all you need to know about him as a fighter.
On top of it, White insisted that Jones proved he was the GOAT by coming back after a long layoff and beating Ciryl Gane in the first round itself at UFC 285.
