Jon Jones dominance in the light-heavyweight division in recent years has resulted in there being few legitimate opponents left to challenge for his title, and according to the champion you can score Dan Henderson off the list as well.
“I have no wishes to fight Dan Henderson,” Jones says of the former Strikeforce champion in an interview with MMAMania.com. “Dan Henderson is a guy who, you know, he’s done a lot for this sport already, he’s a lot older. I think he’s a guy a lot of people would expect me to beat anyways. So I have no big dreams of fighting Dan Henderson.”
“His last fight with Rashad Evans you could really see him starting to slow down,” Jones continued. “So fighting him I don’t think really proves much.”
In all fairness, while Hendo was at one stage pegged to fight Jones last year before suffering an injury which ultimately lead to the cancellation of UFC 151, he’s since gone on to lose two fights, albeit both narrowly by split decision against former champions Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans so he’s not in the title picture right now anyway.
So who is left for Jones at 205lbs? His next fight is already scheduled for UFC 165 in September, and it’s a good one against Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson who earned his shot by rattling off six wins in a row.
Beyond that only Glover Teixeira really stands out immediately as a fresh face to put in the Octagon with him before we begin to retread old ground with the likes of Evans of Machida getting a second chance to attempt to find a chink in ‘Bones’ armor.
An Anderson Silva superfight could have been next if Chris Weidman hadn’t thrown a large spanner in the works, though talk of it could be reignited if the former champ emerges victorious in the rematch in late December.
Given the limited options t’s no surprise that Jones has been showing an increasing interest in moving up to the UFC’s heavyweight ranks, and at this rate that could be a real possibility within the next year.
