MMA fans who have seen recent social media posts from Jon Jones know he is almost ready to compete against heavyweight.
He has stated that he weighs around 240 pounds, and at 6 feet-4, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion wants to put more muscle on his frame. He should be ready to compete in his desired form in a few months, but will he?
While a heavyweight championship fight for Jones, who is arguably the greatest mixed martial artist ever, makes sense, the division’s title image is somewhat murky.
Champion Stipe Miocic is expected to defend against top contender Francis Ngannou, possibly in March, but that fight hasn’t been made official. In the meantime, would Jones be willing to take on another fight if he enters a new division?
Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson is another great veteran whose future is a bit unclear.
Ferguson saw his 12-fight win streak against Justin Gaethje end in May, and he was waxed by Charles Oliveira at UFC 256 on December 12. Suddenly, the man who couldn’t lose was even struggling to win a round in 2020.
Ferguson is no longer in the title picture. He’s just a fighter who wants to get back on track. But at the age of 36, is it too late for Ferguson to become a dominant force again?
ESPN’s expert panel of Ariel Helwani, Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim discuss these topics and more, explaining what’s real and what’s not.
Real or not, Jon Jones isn’t waiting for the Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou winner to make his heavyweight debut.
Helwani: He certainly should, and the UFC would rather he would. It also doesn’t look like Jones is campaigning or itching for a fight before fighting for the heavyweight title.
Here’s the deal: The UFC wants Stipe Miocic to defend the heavyweight title against Francis Ngannou in March. In fact, UFC representatives recently met with Miocic in hopes of finalizing the title fight. The title fight is not a foregone conclusion, but that’s definitely what the promotion wants, I’m told.
In a perfect world, the UFC would like the winner of that fight to defend the belt against Jones over the summer, sources said. When you consider that Miocic has fought an average of once a year for the past three years and Ngannou – through no fault of his own – appears to be fighting for about 30 seconds a year, this should be a welcome plan for everyone. I can see Ngannou making that quick turnaround, but historically, Miocic didn’t like that.
Still, that’s what the UFC wants. And that’s what it should want. It would be a big mistake to book Jones against a non-champion at this point. If he loses, Jones’s big money fight for a second title is lost. Why risk that now, especially since Jones looked human lately and we don’t know how he will fare with the big boys? It is not worth it. Jones vs. the winner of Miocic-Ngannou is a huge fight. It’s the fight to make.
Jones vs. a heavyweight contender is no doubt fun, but without a belt, it doesn’t feel that big.
Book Miocic-Ngannou in March, hope the winner isn’t too scared, then give us Jones fighting for the heavyweight belt this summer. Just don’t tell Israel Adesanya about this plan …
Real or not, Tony Ferguson’s days as a lightweight contender are over.
Okamoto: It breaks my heart to say it, but I really have to go here. Prior to his fight against Charles Oliveira last week, I, like many others, said it was a crossroads for Ferguson at the age of 36. I said everything was at stake for him at UFC 256. And he was dominated in the fight. How can I come back this week and still call him a lightweight contender? If Ferguson has a comeback year in 2021, it will be me shocked? No. It’s not that his skills have gone crater, or that his ability to take a blow has disappeared.
I’m not counting him completely. But he was now dominated in back-to-back fights, and he was dominated in two very different ways. He was badly hit by Justin Gaethje in May and overrun by Oliveira in December. And there are so many hungry lightweights waiting in the wings to secure a spot in the top 5 that has been Ferguson’s for years.
At this point, I think it’s fair to say that Ferguson will have a hard time keeping those guys at bay and keeping his place in the pecking order. He’s been one of the best lightweights in the world for a while now, and nothing that’s happened this year has changed my mind about how good he was at the time, but as for him at the championship level, those days might be over.
Real or not, if Khabib Nurmagomedov fights in 2021, he’s more likely to face GSP than Conor McGregor.
Raimondi: Extremely real. Nurmagomedov was quite clear about this. He sees no competitive reason for a McGregor rematch. Nurmagomedov stopped McGregor in round four via submission in their UFC title fight at UFC 229 on October 6, 2018. In his mind, the UFC Lightweight Champion doesn’t think he has anything more to prove sportingly against the UFC’s greatest. star. Nurmagomedov has said the only thing the UFC could offer him to fight McGregor again is a boatload of money, but Nurmagomedov has shown time and again that he puts his personal principles above the almighty dollar. In many cases this could be described as lip service, but not with Khabib.
I think the only fight Nurmagomedov would get back in the Octagon would be a throwback against Georges St-Pierre. This has been said several times, but it is true. Go back and listen to and read old interviews – from years ago – with Nurmagomedov and his late father Abdulmanap. The Nurmagomedovs put St-Pierre on a pedestal. Khabib believes GSP is the best fighter in MMA history. With Nurmagomedov at 29-0, what better way to end a career than taking on St-Pierre, the former UFC Middleweight and Welterweight Champion, with a chance of making it a perfect 30?
The only other fight that might have made sense for a Nurmagomedov return was the fateful Tony Ferguson fight. But Ferguson went 0-2 in 2020 and doesn’t look like the man people wanted to fight Nurmagomedov in the first place. I do believe Nurmagomedov will remain in retirement for the time being unless the UFC can lure St-Pierre out of retirement for what would be an absolute megafight. Weight wouldn’t even matter.
Real or not, Rose Namajunas will compete for the Strawweight title in 2021 and she will win it back.
Wagenheim: The first part of this should be real. Namajunas is the # 1 contender for straw weight, the division in which she used to rule. She is in the top 5 of the ESPN women’s pound-for-pound rankings, one spot below 115-pound champion, Zhang Weili. Namajunas has won four of her past five fights and takes a win in July over Jessica Andrade, the woman who took the belt off her last year. Namajunas has earned her title shot and according to what her fiancé / coach, Pat Barry, told ESPN last week, she wants that shot.
Why did Barry have to come out and explain the obvious? Because UFC President Dana White had previously told BT Sport, “Rose doesn’t want to fight for the title.”
Maybe it was just a mix of communication. But again, just a few months ago, White said Jon Jones didn’t want to fight Francis Ngannou after Jones asked for more money to take on the heavyweight KO performer. Flipping the script to tax the athlete is a clever way to unleash social media disdain for someone who doesn’t fall in line. Who knows if the UFC boss tried that with Namajunas? Suffice to say, there would be a lot of disdain from White if he chose to book the 115-pound alternate title fight he suggested: Zhang vs. Carla Esparza.
Like Namajunas, Esparza is a former champion. In fact, she won the belt with a win over none other than “Thug Rose.” But that was in 2014. In 2021, even with Esparza on a winning streak of four fights, she doesn’t belong in a champion fight as Namajunas walks the planet, waiting for hers.
So I’m going to start from what I feel like a pretty sturdy limb and predict Zhang vs. Namajunas will navigate through some choppy waters of communication and be real.
And it’s going to be a great title fight, maybe even a classic like everyone’s 2020 fight of the year, Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Namajunas stepping out of the Octagon with the belt that night, but I have to choose Zhang. She’s so solid in every aspect of the game, from skill to grit, and with only five UFC bouts on her resume, it feels like she’s just scratching the surface of what she can become.