Jon Jones could make his return to the octagon by the end of the year and there are a couple of options for him.

Mixed martial art reporter Ariel Helwani said that the UFC has been in contact with the 35-year-old about a possible bout against Stipe Miocic.

While Jones is interested in the fight, Helwani said that the UFC is not yet close to locking up the fight between the two.

Originally, the hope was Jones would fight champion Francis Ngannou. 

However, Ngannou’s recovering from a knee injury that required surgery and has a contract dispute with the UFC.

So that remains a “long shot,” according to Helwani.

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But it could remain a possibility for March if the UFC fails to piece together a Jones and Miocic in December.

If Jones doesn’t get to fight by the end of the year, then the main event will stay between Jiří Procházka and Glover Teixeira for the Lightweight belt.

The first fight between the two took place in June when Procházka won via submission in the last minute.

As for Jones, he will look to make his heavyweight debut after dominating light heavyweight for years.

In his UFC career, Jones holds a 26-1 record with one no-contest.

Jones’ only loss came from a disqualification over illegal elbows against Matt Hamil back in 2009.

His last fight was a unanimous decision victory over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in 2020, where Jones once again defended his light heavyweight belt.

However, Jones hasn’t had many fights as of late as multiple legal issues have stood in his way.

This includes a battery domestic violence charge and injuring and tampering with a vehicle in 2021 that took place in Las Vegas.

Jones wound up accepting a plea deal so he could avoid jail time. 

Also, he was arrested for using a firearm and an aggravated DWI in New Mexico in 2020, along with a number of other legal issues.

Additionally, Jones has been stripped of his title three times for his past controversies.

Before December, there will be two other UFC PPV matchups this year.

The next one will take place between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev on Saturday, October 22.

That will be followed by the main event between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira in November.

Jon Jones could have a fight in line by the end of the year.

The 35-year-old indicated that he would return for UFC 282, which has a set date for December 10.

https://twitter.com/JonnyBones/status/1560470499901075456

By many fans, Jones is considered one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time.

However, he has been involved in a fair share of controversy including a battery domestic violence charge and injuring and tampering with a vehicle in 2021 that took place in Las Vegas.

Jones wound up accepting a plea deal so he could avoid jail time. 

Also, he was arrested for using a firearm and an aggravated DWI in New Mexico in 2020, along with a number of other legal issues.

Additionally, Jones has been stripped of his title three times for his past controversies.

 In his UFC career, Jones holds a 26-1 record with one no contest.

Jone’s only loss came from a disqualification over illegal elbows against Matt Hamil back in 2009.

His last fight was a unanimous decision victory over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in 2020, where Jones once again defended his light heavyweight belt.

Currently, Czech-native Jiří Procházka is the light heavyweight champion – but Jones has his sites set higher.

“My goal, my dream is to have my first heavyweight title fight look like my first light heavyweight title fight,” Jones tweeted. 

“Pure domination,” he added. 

That could set up a fight between Jones and champion Francis Ngannou, who is recovering from a knee injury that required surgery. 

However, the bigger issue with Ngannou, who has been critical of UFC fighter pay, remains without a contract. 

In fact, he recently tweeted: “Fighters are ripped off with Sponsorship. It’s a huge source of revenue for us but the company keeps exploiting that for their own benefit.” 

And he was also critical of the UFC’s collaboration with a major cryptocurrency trading site. 

https://twitter.com/francis_ngannou/status/1560035771293253645

UFC president Dana White previously said it’s “all business and we’ll see how it plays out.”

In the meantime, he added that a fight between Jones and Stipe Miocic “makes sense.”

But that has not been confirmed. 

Another possibility is Ciryl Gane (10-1), who lost the heavyweight belt to Ngannou by decision in January. 

Cain Velasquez returned to the octagon on Friday night. The two-time UFC heavyweight champion had left the sport on a high, knocking out Travis Brown on July 9, 2016, at UFC 200. His return was heavily awaited.

“When Cain was in his prime, it was the greatest thing to watch somebody do,” said trainer Javier Mendez. Only Velasquez wasn’t in his prime.

Ngannou Knocks Out Velasquez

Before his matchup with Francis Ngannou, the main event of UFC on ESPN 1, there were no questions about Velasquez. Yes, he had taken off time to recuperate injuries and raise his son. But he was a two-time world champion. Velasquez felt he could beat anyone one on one.

Then things got off to a poor start. He lacked a step, first missing on a kick to the head and then failing on a takedown against the cage. When he went for his second maneuver, Ngannou connected on a short uppercut on the inside while Velasquez’s knee buckled. He tumbled to the mat.

The former champ cowered down while the Cameroonian-French fighter known as “The Predator” went to work. Strikes landed on Cain. Referee Jason Herzog realized the fight was well over and that Valezquez had little chance to recover. He pushed Ngannou off him and waved the fight.

Fans at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona left disappointed. It took only 20 seconds for Valesquez to collapse. Six more seconds went by until Herzog called the fight. Velasquez had little chance to gain the advantage with his famed cardiovascular strength. Ngannou could’ve held his breath for the entirety of the fight and still have won.

After the match, Valesquez sat down for a press conference.

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“I just can’t believe that happened,” he said. “I had a great camp coming in. Truly, everything I said before about how strong I felt, that was all true. I felt great out there, relaxed and then taking that one step with my left foot, something popped and then when I tried to take another step, it gave out on me, my knee just gave out on me. I can’t even believe that happened.”

“Going in I was 100 percent healthy, 100 percent ready and just to have this freak accident, I can’t even believe it. It’s just hard. But that’s sports. That’s what we do. That’s what happens sometimes. It’s just really frustrating,” Velasquez added.

When asked about the fight and his injuries, Cain said: “It was just the knee, yeah. He didn’t even touch me. It was just the knee. As soon as I felt the knee buckle, I couldn’t believe that happen and then that was it.”

Here’s the full fight below:

Saturday’s UFC 226 bout between Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou in Las Vegas received strong criticism for the way it played out, and UFC president Dana White took particular aim at the latter fighter’s performance.

Dana White Blasts Francis Ngannou After UFC 226

“Horrible,” White called Ngannou’s performance during the post-event news conference, before adding that the fighter’s arrogance hurt him in Saturday’s fight. “I think that he had a pretty quick rise here and obviously the fight over Alistair Overeem catapulted him. Everybody was talking about him. I thought he was going to be the next guy. I think his ego ran away with him. Big time. I can tell you that his ego absolutely did run away. The minute that happens to you in the fight game you see what happens — you start to fall apart.”

Ngannou and Lewis logged a combined 31 landed strikes in their 15-minute matchup on Saturday. Lewis ultimately won the contest by unanimous decision.

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Ngannou started his career with a record of 11-1. After knocking out Overeem last December at UFC 218, he faced off against Stipe Miocic, who at the time was the UFC heavyweight champion. Miocic easily defeated Ngannou via unanimous decision in January to keep his belt.

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On Saturday, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier beat Miocic and called out former UFC champion Brock Lesnar — now a WWE fighter — Lesnar then entered the Octagon and started verbally attacking Miocic and Ngannou after pushing Cormier.