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Love him or hate him, the now 32-year-old Albuquerque native, Jon Jones has run through the light heavyweight division twice. That's an undeniable fact.Let's face it as we all age, weight is harder to take off. Even for athletes with strict dedication. Yes, as of late Jon's in-cage fighting appears to be a hair off from what it once was. Hey, he can't be 22 years old forever.
So if there was ever the time for a move for him it's now. But which way? While him and Israel Adesanya the middleweight king have chirped back and forth as of late, that's not the way to go. First of all while being able to still hit 205 is one thing, going to 185 is impossible. It's a fight that Israel would need time to bulk up for, get used to that weight, all while keeping 185 in a holding pattern. Every UFC fan out there knows how that story goes. Not good.
Jon's defense that has slowed is combined with the next generation's improvements. Although his offense is still top notch. Officially he's on a 4 fight win streak but in many peoples eyes he dropped his last 2. But hey, a win's a win. Even the ugly ones.
The time to do what Randy Couture, GSP, DC, Nunes, and Cejudo did to name a few couldn't be more perfect. There's nothing left to do at 205. Outside of trying to tempt fate and get more decisive wins over Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes. That winner ego may keep him there to do that and try to get Adesanya to come up.
Is a move to heavyweight the right way to go for Jones?
At heavyweight the matchups are more flashy. They're more super fight type of battles. And there could be more money to be made as well. All that plus a growth spurt in his own legacy would feed into his ego like a shark feeding frenzy.
At 265 you have legends like Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, and Junior Dos Santos. And you can safely bet, they'd love to get their hands on him too. You have the bangers like Walt Harris, Derrick Lewis, and Curtis Blaydes. Then you have the top of the heap in Francis Ngannou, Stipe Miocic, and Daniel Cormier.
When DC moved up the talk was complete the trilogy at Cormier's real weight. Each have their reasons for not pushing the button. And DC wanted Brock and then to walk away. Jones and Daniel will always be connected, but here Jon can put the final nail in the coffin. If he beats DC again, he sends him into retirement on a loss. If he can lure Brock back to the UFC, he gets a fight that Daniel desperately wanted. Those would eat at Cormier.
How would Jones fare against a one-shot killer like Ngannou?
Jones has gone back and forth with Francis since a while now, and in fairness he's made solid points. Despite having the touch of death, Ngannou can be sloppy sometimes. Jon can exploit that. And on the mat, Jones can make him pay. He's chirped with Stipe. And that would be even more of a good guy vs bad guy build up than he had with DC.
