Jon Jones, the current UFC heavyweight champion, is reconsidering retirement and may continue fighting based on his next performance and the evolving landscape of potential matchups, including a possible showdown with Alex Pereira.
Jon Jones might not be set on retirement after all.
The current UFC heavyweight champion has hinted about stepping away following an expected rebooking with former champ Stipe Miocic later this year. Following UFC 303 — most notably Alex Pereira’s knockout of Jiri Prochazka in the main event — Jones appears to be pumping the brakes on walking away if the landscape stays the same. He answered a fan question on Twitter.
“Honestly, it’s hard to say right now,” Jones responded when asked about retirement. “I’m gonna base a lot of that on my next performance. The options are looking crazy right now.”
Jones, who captured his second divisional title with a quick submission win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023, was slated to face Miocic at UFC 295 this past November before he was forced to withdraw due to injury. Despite Tom Aspinall capturing the interim title at that Madison Square Garden event, Jones remains focused on rebooking his fight with Miocic — despite fan sentiment dropping as the months go by.
With Pereira rapidly becoming a star — and putting himself in a position to possibly fight for the chance to become the first three-division champ in UFC history — Jones has already expressed interest in a champ vs. champ showdown in the future.
Who knows what’ll happen next? The MMA world is always full of surprises!