Chael Sonnen claims Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic has gone “up in flames” and the UFC is now targeting ‘Bones’ vs. Sergei Pavlovich

Chael Sonnen has heard rumors of an interesting main event for UFC 293 in Australia.

When the card was announced, many expected the main event to be Israel Adesanya defending his middleweight title against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis. However, according to Sonnen, he says the winner of that fight may not be ready so instead, he’s heard that the main event will be Jon Jones defending his heavyweight title for the first time against Sergei Pavlovich.

The fight between Jones and Pavlovich would catch many by surprise as all signs pointed toward ‘Bones’ vs. Stipe Miocic. However, Sonnen says that the fight has gone “up in flames” which is why the UFC is turning to Jones vs. Pavlovich.

“I’m hearing strong rumors that Stipe and Jones is going to go up in flames and that Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jones is happening in August,” Sonnen told Thiccc Boy (h/t MMAMania). “Strong enough that I can tell you that’s at least being pursued. I don’t know where they are in agreeing, but that’s at least being pursued. And if you did have partners in Australia, you promised them ‘Izzy’ [Israel Adesanya] and you said, ‘Look, I can’t deliver but I can bring you Jones and Pavlovich, are we good?’ They’d probably say, ‘Yeah, we’re good.’

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“I have to give Jon Jones credit, I really do and that pains me,” Sonnen continued. “I got to give him credit here because people have said he was going to fight Stipe then he was going to retire. It’s like well, hold on, people. Let me remind you of one thing. When you talk about the mindset, you talk like Jon Jones doesn’t have the courage, let me just remind you he thought he was fighting Francis, he agreed to fight Stipe, and he ended up in there with Ciryl.”

As of right now, the UFC has yet to announce the main event of UFC 293 on September 9. But, if Sonnen is to be believed, the UFC will announce Jones-Pavlovich soon.

Do you think Jon Jones will fight Sergei Pavlovich next time out?