Jon Jones confirms plan to retire after Stipe Miocic fight – unless Francis Ngannou returns to UFC

Jon Jones doesn’t intend on sticking around after facing Stipe Miocic – but one fight could change his mind.

Heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) is expected to make his first title defense against Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in November, and the all-time great thinks it will likely be his final fight.

“Right now, my goal is to have one more big fight against Stipe Miocic, Madison Square Garden and then kinda hang it up from there,” Jones told Fox Sports Australia.

Outside of a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill in a fight he was dominating, Jones has never lost in MMA. A longtime light heavyweight champion, Jones decided to eventually relinquish his belt and take some time off.

He returned from a three-year hiatus as a heavyweight, and needed just one round to run through Ciryl Gane and claim the vacant belt at UFC 285 in March. Jones’ resume is already filled with former champions and UFC Hall of Famers, and adding Miocic would be the cherry on top.

“I think the Stipe fight will be plenty for me,” Jones said. “I feel like I don’t really have much to prove after beating Stipe Miocic. I’ve been in the game a long time and in fighter years, I’m an old guy. I’ve been training for a long time, I’ve been in the game for a long time and got some small injuries – I just really want to be around.

“Be around for my family, be around for my kids. I want to be able to play with my kids, and have a good head on my shoulders, and have joints that work. So I can see it coming to an end really soon, and I’m happy with that. I’m really proud of my career.”

However, if there’s one person that could lure him to stay, it’s former champ Francis Ngannou, who parted ways with the UFC after failing to come to terms on a new deal. The promotion’s plan was to have Jones face Ngannou, but the fight didn’t materialize.

If Jones gets past Miocic, streaking knockout artist Sergei Pavlovich waits in the wings, as well, but Jones sees no incentive to take that fight.

“I do believe a Francis Ngannou fight would be worth entertaining not retiring,” Jones said. “I think a Francis fight would come with some serious revenue and that would make it worth my while. Francis is a former champion, he’s pretty damn popular here in America and across the world. It would bring in a lot of money and for that I would be willing to come back. Everyone is talking about Sergei, and Sergei is a huge challenge but no one knows who he is.

“In the grand scheme of things no one knows who he is. I think Luke Thomas said it best saying, ‘High risk, very low reward,’ where you could fight a guy like Francis Ngannou and get the whole world talking. It would be worth the risk, worth the money, all of it. So who knows? Maybe the UFC will come with the right numbers and we can make this Sergei thing happen. But as of right now, I got all the accolades, nothing really to prove. I think a Francis (fight) would get me really excited to maybe keep going.”