When Jon Jones was pulled days before his UFC 200 main event fight against Daniel Cormier, Dana White didn’t think he would be able to rely on Jones to headline another event. Things change quite often in the UFC and you can add this to the list.
The UFC president, who hasn’t talked to Jones since then revealed on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast that Jones would likely face the winner of the UFC 210 main event rematch between light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson.
“Jon Jones is supposed to return around July so the timing is perfect, White said on the podcast. “I haven’t talked to him. I haven’t talked to Jon Jones since the whole incident.
“Depending on where Jon’s head is and where he thinks he is, I would assume he would come right back and try to get his title back.”
Jones is currently serving a one-year suspension after failing a drug test for taking clomiphene and Letrozole, which are two anti-estrogen drugs and banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the UFC’s anti-drug program.
White said it makes no sense for Jones to take a tune-up fight considering he never lost the title inside the octagon.
“If you’re going to go in there and give it, at least go in and try to get your belt back,” White said. “It’s like everyone was saying Ronda (Rousey) should have had a tune up (fight). There are no tune-up fights.
“When you break into the top five in the world, everybody’s nasty. What you don’t want to do is lose to somebody (ranked) 8, 9, 10. It knocks you right out of the top 10 and it doesn’t make sense.”
The 29-year-old defeated Cormier at UFC 182 in Jan. 2015 by unanimous decision and has never went up against Johnson.
