Jon Jones rubbishes accusations of intentionally ducking rematch against Dominick Reyes

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has responded to accusations of quitting the 205lbs division in order to avoid potential title fights against top contenders Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz.

Jon Jones recently vacated the UFC light heavyweight title and teased a potential climb to the heavyweight division for a super-fight against the reigning champion Stipe Miocic. As Jon Jones starts his new journey in the UFC, his former foe Reyes and Blachowicz will throw down for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 253 in September.

Jon Jones’ move to heavyweight has been widely talked about and a certain section of the MMA community even accused him of intentionally making the move to avoid a rematch with Reyes. Jon Jones took to Twitter to respond to those accusations on Thursday. Jones has been known for settling rematches in dominant fashion having settled his rivalries with Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson with TKO wins in a pair of rematches and he said that there's no reason why he'd be scared of fighting Reyes again.

I literally had to leave it all out there the night I beat Gus, my last fight I ended comfortably scoring points. Gus pushed me to a place I have still yet to see again

— BONY (@JonnyBones) August 20, 2020

Both DC and Gus faced fatalities in our rematches, now for the first time in my career I’m terrified to have a rematch? If you believe this narrative, slap yourself

— BONY (@JonnyBones) August 20, 2020

“I literally had to leave it all out there the night I beat [Alexander Gustafsson], my last fight I ended comfortably scoring points,” Jones wrote. “Gus pushed me to a place I have still yet to see again. Both [Daniel Cormier] and Gus faced fatalities in our rematches, now for the first time in my career I’m terrified to have a rematch? If you believe this narrative, slap yourself.”

Jon Jones then said that compared to fighting Jan Blachowicz, a move up to heavyweight to fight top contenders in a new division is a much more challenging prospect.

“Jan from Poland < Diving headfirst into the unknown,” Jones wrote.