Chael Sonnen thinks Jon Jones is a badass for agreeing to face Sergei Pavlovich next.
Jon Jones is looking for a fight. He has been linked to a possible bout against Stipe Miocic and mentioned wanting to retire when that fight is over. Now UFC analyst and former Jones opponent, Chael Sonnen is reporting that that proposed fight is in danger. Sonnen has heard through his information channels that the Jones vs. Miocic fight is “going to go up in flames.” Sonnen has been calling for the champ to move on from this matchup for a couple of weeks now since it first appeared that there was trouble setting a date for this bout. Sonnen was calling for Jones to fight rising heavyweight star Sergei Pavlovich next and now it seems that might be the direction the UFC is heading.
“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 said to Brendan Schaub on his podcast. “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, and you promised them Izzy 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.”
Chael Sonnen believes Jon Jones is willing to take on any bout he is offered
Sonnen fought Jones back in 2013 and at the time Sonnen was not a big fan of Jones. Now things have changed. Sonnen is retired from fighting and Jones is regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Sonnen has immense respect for Jones now and thinks that he is willing to take on any man that is offered.
“I have to give Jon Jones credit, I really do as much as it pains me,” he said. “I gotta give him credit here because people have said he was gonna fight Stipe and then he’s gonna 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 to be fair, he thought he was fighting Francis. He agreed to fight Stipe and he ended up in there with Ciryl…Jon isn’t going anywhere and if Stipe goes up in smoke. He’s already set off by the next best thing. You decide who it is, oh, you’ve decided it’s Sergei, then it’s Sergei. That’s Jones’s real attitude and not for nothing. He deserves for people to know that. He’s a badass.”
“Bones” has mentioned wanting his next and possibly last fight to be in his home state of New York at Madison Square Graden. It seems unlikely that he will agree to walk away from the sport in Australia but perhaps this could be a fight before his swan song. The UFC is planning to return to Australia in September. They will return to MSG in November, which does not leave a big turnaround if he was looking to do both.
