Should things go according to
Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana
White’s plans, fans are about to be treated to a dream
heavyweight matchup.
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In a recent interview with TMZ, White
expressed his hopes about enrolling former 205-pound kingpin
Jon
Jones for an upcoming UFC event. While White didn’t expressly
indicate the name of the card, it is safe to assume that he was
hinting at International Fight Week, which is headlined by UFC
276.
“Listen, people have been talking about how awesome this card is,
and I was just telling somebody the other day our lineup for this
summer is incredible,” White said. “I’m hoping that Jon Jones is
gonna be a part of that lineup this summer.”
When asked about a potential opponent for “Bones,” the first name
that came to White’s mind was the one of former heavyweight
titleholder Stipe
Miocic.
“Yeah, Stipe makes sense.”
The last time he stepped into the Octagon, Jones (26-1, 1 NC; 20-1,
1 NC UFC) took a unanimous decision over Dominick
Reyes in the UFC 247 headliner. After the February 2020
victory, Jones had some issues outside the cage, including a
contract dispute with the UFC that led him to relinquish the
championship and plan his transition to the heavyweight division.
Moreover, he was arrested for battery domestic violence in Sept.
2021 while he was in Las Vegas for his induction to the UFC Hall of
Fame. Jones was also banned from his team, Jackson-Wink MMA,
because of his reiterated legal issues.
Miocic (20-4, 14-4 UFC) has been away from competition since he
lost his championship to Francis
Ngannou in a highly-anticipated rematch that went down at UFC
260. The 39-year-old Ohio-based fighter is the record holder for
most consecutive title defenses at heavyweight after scoring
back-to-back victories against the likes of Alistair
Overeem, Junior dos
Santos and Ngannou.