Dana White appears to have moved on from Jon Jones suggesting that Stipe Miocic will now face the winner of Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou 2.
Earlier this week the UFC President confirmed that a rematch between ‘The Black Beast’ and ‘The Predator’ was in the works for later this summer. During that same interview White suggested that former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic could be next for Jon Jones.
However, ‘Bones’ would quickly refute that rumor, telling fans “not to get excited” as he has no plans of fighting the Cleveland native.
Given the current heavyweight landscape, Dana White was asked to provide an update on the division and if Jon Jones will be a part of it in 2021.
“Jon Jones is under contract,” White said on “The Jake Asman Show (via MMAJunkie).” “He has a contract. We have tried to work with him and see if there are things we can do to make him want to fight at heavyweight. But if he doesn’t want to fight at heavyweight, he doesn’t want to at the end of the day. What are you going to do? You can’t make the guy fight. The reality is Derrick Lewis is really the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight championship right now. It doesn’t matter if Jon Jones wants to fight or doesn’t want to fight.”
According to Dana White, since ‘Bones’ rejected the idea of fighting Miocic next, the former heavyweight champion will now get the winner of Lewis vs. Ngannou 2.
“Well, Jon Jones made it very clear that he has no interest in fighting Stipe, so it doesn’t really matter,” White said. “What you do is you do the fight with Derrick Lewis and Francis and then Stipe gets the winner.”
The former light heavyweight kingpin has yet to react to the news, but knowing Jones a response should come swiftly.