Jon Jones has explained his reasoning for vacating the light heavyweight championship and putting a bow on the glory he has achieved in the division for nearly 10 years.
Last Monday, Jon Jones decided to vacate the light heavyweight championship, thus allowing the UFC to green-light the UFC 253 co-main event of Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Blachowicz to be for the undisputed LHW title. It also allowed fighters like UFC Fight Night 175 headliners Anthony Smith and Aleksandar Rakic to have a more viable path to the title, particularly Anthony Smith, who commended Jones for his selfless decision.
Shortly after Jon Jones dropped the light heavyweight title, he announced that he would be moving up to heavyweight. So putting two and two together, one can deduce that the vacating was done for that reason. However, other champions who were moving to another division did not follow this formula, such as Conor McGregor and Henry Cejudo. Thursday, Jones explained his reasoning via Twitter.
“I vacated the light heavyweight championship because I knew my heavyweight goals were going to take some time. I wasn’t going to play games with the contenders and make people fight interim championship belts. There’s little rest on the throne.”
There is speculation of whom Jon Jones will face in his heavyweight debut as well as when the debut will be. Dana White expressed a willingness to be patient and put Jones in the driver’s seat of his own timeline. He also stated that a title shot would be waiting for him at heavyweight after Ngannou gets his rematch against the reigning champion Stipe Miocic.
What do you think about Jon Jones’s reasoning behind vacating the light heavyweight championship?
