Jon Jones won't extend his fighting career beyond UFC 309 to unify the heavyweight title, but he will if it means fighting the likes of Derrick Lewis and Jamahal Hill.
Jones is set to headline this weekend's pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden, returning 20 months on from his crowning to defend the heavyweight gold for the very first time opposite Stipe Miocic.
Rather than the matchup itself, the main talking point in recent months and days has been the former light heavyweight kingpin's decision to avoid facing interim titleholder Tom Aspinall, who earned his belt last November as a result of an injury to "Bones."
And more than just not facing that challenge next, Jones has recently rejected the possibility of fighting Aspinall post-UFC 309 entirely, instead pointing to Alex Pereira as an opponent he'd be willing to share the cage with.
In a media scrum during UFC 309 fight week, Jones continued to dismiss fighting his interim counterpart. This time, though, he added more names to the list of potential opponents he'd favor over the Brit.
But it perhaps came as a surprise when the names Lewis and Hill followed the term "super fights."
I could see myself after this entertaining super fights only," Jones said. "If we get a dominant performance, I'm prepared to vacate the heavyweight championship and fight for fun. I want to fight for fun. ... I don't necessarily want it to be over, but I just want to fight for fun.
I think about one of my teammates, Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone, he just fights. Win, lose, or draw, he just fights. I would love to kind of experience that for the first time in my career, just not having this belt to protect. Just fighting guys that I'd stylistically want to fight against," Jones continued. "Random fights like Jamahal Hill. ... I'm at an interesting weight where I can fight light heavyweights or heavyweights. Derrick Lewis, Biggest knockout puncher in history.
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Aspinall's stoppage wins against Alexander Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich, and Curtis Blaydes haven't stopped Jones branding the Brit's résumé unworthy of his time, but "Bones" clearly holds Hill's victories over Jimmy Crute, Johnny Walker, Thiago Santos, and a retiring Glover Teixeira en route to the then-vacant title in high regard.
Lewis, meanwhile, is without a win streak since 2021 and has lost five of his last eight fights.
Suffice to say, it would appear unlikely that the 'ducking' accusations being leveled against Jones would dissipate should he vacate the heavyweight title in order to fight the likes of "Sweet Dreams" and "The Black Beast."