The State Of The UFC’s Light Heavyweight Division Without Jon Jones

The UFC roster suffered a major blow when Jon Jones vacated his light heavyweight title and moved to heavyweight.

But they will survive.

In fact, it might actually be for the better in both the short-term and long-term.

Jones is already regarded as the greatest light heavyweight champion in the history of MMA. In fact, many consider him the best fighter in general. 

Over this last few title defenses, though, “Bones” has seemed uninterested almost inside the Octagon. He finished Alexander Gustafsson back in 2018, but in wins over Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes since, he has went the distance.

While that is a credit to Smith, Santos and Reyes, it has also made Jones seem like he was just “going through the motions” to retain his title.

That is not who we want to see. And I highly doubt that is who Jones wants to be.

Now, by taking the climb to heavyweight, we get fresh, exciting matches to talk about. And Jones gets fresh and exciting opponents to prepare for.

Stipe Miocic. Francis Ngannou. Curtis Blaydes. Derrick Lewis. Alistair Overeem. Junior dos Santos. 

Heck, maybe Daniel Cormier will give retirement a second thought and stick it out for another battle with his rival.

And while the light heavyweight division might not look as imposing without Jones sitting atop it. Or Cormier for that matter, it is a prime opportunity for someone to take the ball and run.

Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will meet to crown the new champion, while Santos, Smith, Glover Teixeira, Jiri Prochazka, Volkan Oezdemir and others all battle to move up the rankings and fight for the belt.

Plus, maybe some of the “bigger” middleweights will give 205 pounds a look and see what they can do there. 

As always, when one door closes, another opens, or as Jones put it on Twitter “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”