Dana White: Jon Jones Wants to Fight Daniel Cormier Next, Not Alexander Gustafsson
The UFC has plans to match Jon Jones with Alexander Gustafsson to headline a UFC pay-per-view in August. The only problem they're running into with making that match official is apparently Jones' willingness to sign off on it.
According to UFC President Dana White, Jones is unwilling to fight Gustafsson. Instead, White explained that Jones desires a fight with Daniel Cormier.
“Just to clear up a couple things, people think we're in contract negotiations with Jon Jones – we're not. Jon Jones still has five fights left on his contract,” White said in a statement Monday with UFC.com. “So what we're doing right now is trying to get him to sign the bout agreement for Gustafsson. He doesn't want to fight Gustafsson. … Lorenzo and I have a meeting with Jones on Thursday to get him to sign the bout agreement, and he's asking to fight Cormier instead.”
Jones and Gustafsson fought an epic battle last September at UFC 165 in a match that fans and pundits alike have described as one of the greatest fights the UFC has ever put on. Jones won the fight by unanimous decision, and the champion later admitted it was the toughest fight he experienced in his professional career to date.
In his last bout, Jones coasted for five rounds against Glover Teixeira and won another unanimous decision, which set up a rematch with Gustafsson. The Swede then reportedly signed his part of the bout agreement, leaving the ball in Jones' court.
Jones is yet to comment on the situation.
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