Michael Bisping has an inkling that there is likely to be one key reason for Jon Jones revealing that he’s within the UFC drug testing pool, despite retiring in 2025.
Jon Jones recently spoke with The Ring Magazine in an interview and the UFC icon admitted that he remains to be submitting regular blood and drug tests amid his inactivity.
The 39-year-old former MMA star was brought back into the UFC drug testing pool last July ahead of announcing his retirement from combat sports.
Jones has been inactive since he vacated the UFC heavyweight belt after his first and only title defense against fellow MMA legend Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in 2024.
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Michael Bisping questions if UFC icon Jon Jones desires to fight Alex Pereira after the drug testing pool revelation
Jon Jones had been heavily linked to fight at UFC Freedom 250 in June, but a return for the previous UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion never materialized.
Nevertheless, Alex Pereira did fight at UFC Freedom 250 and the 39-year-old Brazilian star lost on his heavyweight debut to Ciryl Gane on the White House.
Jones had mocked Alex Pereira after his defeat to Ciryl Gane, but Michael Bisping has now questioned if the UFC legend may need wanted to return back to face him.
Speaking on the Michael Bisping Podcast, he said: “Didn’t he say he was retired? Yeah, exactly. That’s what I’m saying.
“I’m not, like, listen, you bought to have respect for Jon’s profession, right? Easy as that. And he’s right in every little thing he says there. , if he’s within the testing pool still, then I suppose they [UFC] are obligated to still offer him fights.
“So, he’s mainly inferring, though, that he’d probably be open to accepting one among those matches if it was the ‘right’ type of match-up.
“Tell me he’s not in search of Alex Pereira because they were talking about that, right?”
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UFC legend Michael Bisping thinks Jon Jones is likely to be tempted to make a U-turn on his retirement
Jon Jones had been linked with a Tom Aspinall fight as well before the UFC legend opted to vacate the heavyweight title and call it time on his prolific fighting profession.
Bisping admitted that folks were irked about Jones not facing Tom Aspinall within the octagon, but he could still see the long run UFC Hall of Famer returning to fight.
“Oh, listen, I feel everyone, I mean, yeah, there’s a bit of bit of individuals [who] were type of over the ‘I’m retired, I’m not retired,’ the entire thing, the saga with Tom Aspinall and Tom chasing that fight,” he continued.
“And, you understand, some people, I’m not going to say I lost respect, but they were like, ‘Come on, man. You’re the champ. Just fight the interim champ.’ But that was an extended time ago.
“But I still think the whole lot of the world in mixed martial arts could be very excited if there was an announcement and Jon Jones was one half of that match-up [against Alex Pereira]. Easy as that. That fact still stays. John knows that.
“And I feel being around Gable Steveson and helping him train and being in the world and cornering. Yeah. , he’s probably like, ‘S—, I miss this. I suppose I’ll do that.’”
Jones is widely thought to be the most effective MMA fighters of all time and suffered just one defeat across his profession after his controversial DQ loss to Matt Hamill.
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