Jon Jones plans to retire from fighting after defending his UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic later this year.
Jones, 35, is widely considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time by fans and the two-time UFC champion could be hanging up his gloves at the end of this year. 'Bones' won the heavyweight belt by tapping out Ciryl Gane in just over two minutes in March and he wants to call it quits after making the first defence of his belt against Miocic at the UFC's New York pay-per-view event in November.
“Right now, my goal is to have one more big fight against Stipe Miocic, Madison Square Garden and then kinda hang it up from there,” Jones told Fox Sports Australia. “I think the Stipe fight will be plenty for me. I feel like I don’t really have much to prove after beating Stipe Miocic."
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Jones made his UFC debut against the late Stephan Bonnar in 2009 and became the youngest champion in promotional history just two years later by stopping another legend in Shogun Rua. With his only defeat being a controversial disqualification to Matt Hamill over a decade ago, Jones has beaten some of the best light-heavyweight fighters ever such as Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson.
The 35-year-old admitted that small injuries have been nagging him of late, adding: "I’ve been in the game a long time and in fighter years, I’m an old guy. I’ve been training for a long time, I’ve been in the game for a long time and got some small injuries – I just really want to be around. Be around for my family, be around for my kids. I want to be able to play with my kids, and have a good head on my shoulders. I can see it coming to an end really soon, and I’m happy with that. I’m really proud of my career.”
Jones said the only way he would stick around after fighting Miocic is if former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou made a UFC return. The UFC legend is also not a fan of fights against top contenders such as Sergei Pavlovich as he thinks they carry a "high risk, very low" reward outcome.
“I do believe a Francis Ngannou fight would be worth entertaining not retiring,” Jones added. “I think a Francis fight would come with some serious revenue and that would make it worth my while. Francis is a former champion, he’s pretty damn popular here in America and across the world. It would bring in a lot of money and for that I would be willing to come back. Everyone is talking about Sergei, and Sergei is a huge challenge but no one knows who he is."
