Jon Jones surprises and reveals interest in duel with Brock Lesnar

Jones is interested in facing Lesnar ((Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/Montagem SL)

Recently, Jon Jones admitted to considering himself the greatest MMA fighter of all time. However, anyone who thinks that the former light heavyweight champion no longer has ambitions in the sport is mistaken. With a duel scheduled against the arch-rival Daniel Cormier at UFC 214, this Saturday (29), 'Bones' surprised by revealing who he would like to face in Ultimate: the heavyweight Brock Lesnar, former champion of the organization.

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“I would love to fight Brock Lesnar, he is a massive guy. It would be a big clash, really big for the sport. It would be a big challenge. He's very big, but I doubt Brock Lesnar would accept this fight against me. (…) Without a doubt, I would try to wrestle (with him) all the time. I would… You know, I’m not going to say what I was going to do,” Jones said in an interview broadcast live on Facebook.

Lesnar, 40, is retired from MMA. Famous for being a member of WWE, the North American giant has a short but very relevant career in MMA. He won the UFC heavyweight belt in 2008 when he knocked out Randy Couture in his fourth professional fight. He defended the title on two occasions, but was dethroned by Cain Velazquez. A new defeat for alistair overeem took him away from the sport for five years. In 2016, however, he returned to Ultimate for a duel against Mark Hunt, who he beat by unanimous decision, but saw the result changed to a no contest after being caught in an anti-doping test. In total, his record has five wins, three losses and one unsuccessful fight.

Jon Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history by knocking out Mauritius Shogun, in 2011. Since then, he has defended his light heavyweight belt eight times, having beaten names like Lyoto Machida, Vitor belfort, Rashad evans, Alexander Gustafasson and Cormier himself. However, he had his belt taken away by the organization due to legal problems. In April 2015, he was involved in a traffic accident and fled without providing assistance, leaving a pregnant woman injured. He returned to the Octagon in April 2016, when he won the interim title by beating Ovince St Preux. However, three months later he was caught in an anti-doping test and received another punishment, leaving him unable to fight for a year. At 30 years old, Jones has a record of 22 wins and just one loss, which happened due to disqualification, after landing illegal blows on Matt Hamill.