Move to heavyweight not imminent for Jon Jones after UFC 182 victory

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015 | 4 a.m.

Jon Jones gets fat.

The UFC light heavyweight champion likes to celebrate his victories with indulgence. After months training exhaustively at Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, N.M., Jones retreats to his hometown of Ithaca, N.Y., for more relaxing endeavors following fights. Movies and video games with friends replace jiu-jitsu and boxing with training partners.

“I do not train in between fights,” Jones said. “That’s pretty well documented. I’m sure a lot of people have seen pictures of me having this big gut and things like that.”

Opportunities for those photographs might be diminishing, but the existing shots are the closest fans will get to seeing Jones at heavyweight for now. Jones has no plans to move up a division anytime soon after defeating Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) in the main event of UFC 182 Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The victory was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world’s eighth straight title defense, third most all-time behind Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre, and led UFC President Dana White to declare Jones, “cleaned out the division.” Jones could unearth an excess of new contenders if he ditched 205-pound weight class for its 265-pound counterpart.

He’s talked about the possibility before. Three years ago, the now 27-year-old Jones asked White about bulking up but the boss preferred that his young champion stayed put.

Jones warned not to expect the offer to resurface in the near future. While the thought remains in the back of his head, Jones has gotten more comfortable with life at light heavyweight.

“This camp, around being three weeks out, I had to force myself to eat more to keep my weight up,” Jones said. “I was losing weight fast. That’s a testament to hard work, focus and discipline. Fighting at heavyweight would surely be to entertain the fans and it would have to be the perfect opponent.”

Fans won’t get restless yet because the perfect opponent is probably lurking at light heavyweight. Cormier challenged Jones in ways he had never seen before, pressuring the champion unyieldingly for the first three rounds and winning several dirty boxing exchanges with uppercuts.

But the danger Jones faced was nothing in comparison to what Alexander Gustafsson did to him at UFC 165 a year and a half ago. There’s never been total resolution from Jones’ narrow unanimous-decision win (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) over Gustafsson, who sent the champion to the hospital.

With Cormier dispatched, the rematch between Jones and Gustafsson becomes the UFC’s biggest fight.

“I don’t think Gustafsson’s stock ever dropped,” White said. “Gustafsson became a huge star after that fight.”

Gustafsson will have to get past Anthony Johnson, who could poach the assignment, at UFC on Fox 14 on Jan. 24 in his hometown of Stockholm, Sweden, before booking another fight with Jones. That means late spring or early summer is the quickest Jones vs. Gustafsson II could take place.

But what happens after that?

The demand for a superfight with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, Cormier’s teammate, would figure to grow. Having already missed the window for champion vs. champion bouts like Jones vs. Anderson Silva or Anderson Silva vs. Georges St. Pierre, the UFC conceivably wouldn’t want to make the same mistake.

“I would fight Cain Velasquez in a heartbeat,” Jones said. “I really would…with that being said, my maturity has allowed me to make weight a lot easier.”

And the process projects to get simpler. Jones is skipping the hometown victory tour this time around.

He’s heading to New York solely to box up what’s left and move his family to New Mexico full-time. Jones won’t pack on any unnecessary pounds.

“I’m excited for this development and this maturity I’m about to start going through — training in the offseason,” Jones said. “Expect whoever I fight next to have their hands full.”

Cormier’s hands were full enough. Jones out struck the previously undefeated 35-year-old in every round except the second.

The former Olympic wrestler only notched one takedown of the champion, who bounced right back up after a slam in the fifth round. Jones scored four takedowns of Cormier, and complemented them by winning wrestling exchanges on the feet.

Cormier was the world’s second-ranked heavyweight before dropping to light heavyweight.

“I can’t say enough about his mentality inside of that octagon,” Cormier said of Jones. “I’ve shared that cage with some very strong men and some very big men, superheroes. And I can’t say enough about his grit and determination because I pushed him and went after him and fought him.”

Jones’ goal is to become the undisputed greatest fighter of all-time. Many already put him in that role, but Jones considers himself behind Silva and St. Pierre.

The changes he’s making in training are an attempt to slice into the gap. There’s one other shift that could guarantee he passed all competition.

Silva and St. Pierre never won titles in more than one weight class. Jones will have the opportunity when he wants it.

“He’s a big guy,” White said. “I don’t know how long he’ll want to make 205 or when he’ll want to make that jump to heavyweight but I’m sure he’ll want to.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.