White confirms Jones will fight winner of Miocic vs. Ngannou

Dana White says Jon Jones will fight the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title.

There will be no tuneup fight for Jon Jones at heavyweight, as UFC president Dana White is throwing the former light heavyweight champion in with the sharks.

White confirmed last week that ‘Bones’ will be granted an immediate title shot in his heavyweight debut and face the winner of the upcoming rematch between Stipe Miocic (c) and Francis Ngannou at UFC 260.

“Heavyweight. Jon Jones is going to move to heavyweight. We’re going to have Stipe vs. Francis, and the winner of that will probably fight Jon Jones,” White told Sportsnet (h/t BJPenn.com).

White had a great conversation with Jones during the holidays and believes 2021 is going to be a very special year for the pound-for-pound phenom.

“The guy’s been the king of the light heavyweight division forever,” White said. “I think he thinks it’s time to move up to heavyweight. He knows his body, he knows his abilities, he knows better than anybody else does. But it’s impressive. Let me tell you, who wants to fight Francis Ngannou? The answer is nobody, okay? Nobody wants to fight that guy. But Jon Jones does. Pretty impressive.”

“Me and Jon Jones have been (butting heads) for 10 years. We had probably the best conversation we’ve ever had since we’ve known each other around the holidays. And to me, he seems like he’s in the right place. He’s doing all the right things right now, he’s saying all the right things. If everything plays out for us the way that it’s looking, in our 2021 we’re going to see a lot of Jon Jones, a lot of Conor, and maybe some Khabib.”

UFC 260 is scheduled to take place on March 27, so don’t get too excited just yet. Jones will likely return to the octagon to face the winner of Miocic vs. Ngannou by the second half of the year at the earliest.