Frustrated Reyes Wants UFC To Strip Jones

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones insists he’s done competing for the foreseeable future and will spend the next two years concentrating on his endeavors outside the mixed martial arts (MMA) industry.

That’s just fine with top contender Dominick Reyes, so long as the promotion reclaims the crown from bitter “Bones.” But unfortunately for “The Devastator,” UFC President Dana White is convinced he’ll (eventually) patch things up with Jones at some point later this year.

Reyes has other ideas.

“If he’s not gonna fight, then you’re done,” Reyes told SiriusXM. “You’re done, you’re stripped, it’s over because he retired. I mean I guess it’s not stripped, it’s more retired. He said he’d walk away … I don’t know, he’s trying to twist and make it so he can get more fans, ‘I’m a champion for the fighters, I’m doing all these other things.’ He should have just fought me. You can’t sit out two years with a new champion and then be like, ‘Well, I’m the undisputed champ.’ You quit.”

Jones is no stranger to being stripped.

Reyes took Jones to the limit in their five-round war at UFC 247 back in February; however, “Bones” did enough to convince the Texas judges that he was the better man, sneaking out of “The Lone Star State” with a razor-thin split decision victory and more importantly, his 205-pound title.

There was talk of an immediate rematch — mostly from Reyes — but Jones was more interested in cashing in his chips at heavyweight. Then White got “greedy” and Jones, as well as potential rival Francis Ngannou, abandoned their “super fight” plans over lack of pay.

The belt, it would seem, is in White’s court.