After Jon Jones casually dismantled Brandon Vera, the talk began of how long until he fought for a title. Some have advocated letting the young fighter take his time to develop while others have said his unique potential warrants the fast lane to top level competition. Dana White however has given us a general time line.
"He's not ready for that," White said. "I'd like to see him get another year under his belt, and in that year, before he got a shot at the title, he'd have to take out Rashad (Evans), 'Rampage' (Jackson), possibly 'Shogun' (Rua) or (Lyoto) Machida, then get the title shot." - Dana White
In the past Jones has normally fought every 5 to 6 months. Given his easy win this past Sunday, one could propose a quicker turn around for his next fight, even with some time off to spend with his family, as Jones has stated is in his immediate plans. Lets say that puts him approximately around July or August. UFC 116 on July 3rd in Vegas is possible and with Brock's proposed return, it would be a high volume pay per view that would provide more exposure for a fighter the UFC is sure to want to promote heavily. In that same vein of promotion, we could also see Jones showcased again for free on UFC on Versus 2 on August 1st. However, deciding weather or not Jones gets put on free tv or a big pay per view card and when the next fight would be will be determined by his opponent.
The next opponent for Jon Jones should be another fighter on a win streak and with name value. Jones took on Vera off of a close loss to Randy Couture (who spent 15 frustrating minutes trying to take Vera down against the cage, something that took Jones only seconds on open canvas) but Vera's name value and the somewhat controversial nature of the loss warranted the match up. White's comments of Jones taking out one of the LHW elite before a title shot and those fighters being already matched up makes any of them an unlikely next opponent as the winners will be up for title shots and the losers will have a hard time coming out unscathed. So who is available for Jones on his way to a #1 contenders fight?
One up and coming fighter who is also coming off a big win is Ryan Bader. A fellow wrestler with a powerful right hand would provide a good stylistic match up and would be a great fight for the fans. This would be an excellent audience-pleaser on a Versus card. Also, Vladimir Matyushenko is a legend and has been on a streak. Jones style would force the methodical Matyushenko to have a more exciting fight than he has lately. My personal favorite potential match up, the winner of Forrest Griffin vs Lil' Nog which makes sense on many levels. Their fight is scheduled for UFC 114 in May, giving Jones 2 months to himself before starting to think about his next fight. Either fighter would be a tough and established opponent where a win would leave Jones a clear path for a #1 contenders fight against one of the top 5 of the division that White mentioned. These two fights puts us just over a year in the future with Jones potentially starting at a title shot no longer as a prospect, but as a clear cut #1 contender.
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