Dana White confirms Jon Jones will not fight again until 2022

UFC president Dana White confirmed that former UFC light heavyweight champion-turned-heavyweight Jon Jones will not fight again until 2022.

Jones vacated the UFC’s 205lbs belt title last summer while announcing that he would be making the move up to the UFC heavyweight division in 2021. However, Jones got into a contract dispute with the promotion earlier this year in regards to a UFC heavyweight title fight against champion Francis Ngannou. The fight never ended up getting made and instead, it looks like the possibility of Jones vs. Ngannou is something that may not even happen now. That’s because, at UFC 265, Ciryl Gane defeated Derrick Lewis to become the interim UFC heavyweight champion, and now he will be next in line to fight Ngannou.

As for Jones, he likely won’t be stepping into the Octagon anytime soon. According to White when speaking to the media following UFC 265, Jones is not going to fight again until 2022.

White says he isn't thinking about Jon Jones until 2022.

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) August 8, 2021

White says he isn’t thinking about Jon Jones until 2022.

The most recent news that we heard with Jones is that the UFC apparently offered former champion Stipe Miocic the chance to fight him, and Miocic said yes to the fight according to White. However, that fight doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon because Jones isn’t going to be fighting inside the Octagon this year, at least if we believe what White has to say. It’s unfortunate that Jones will likely go another year without fighting. Considering he is arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, it’s disappointing that another year of his prime is going to waste, but hopefully, Jones will be able to fight again in 2022.

Are you still as excited for Jon Jones to make his UFC heavyweight debut in 2022 as you would have been if he made his debut in the weight class this year as was expected?