Jon Jones To Meet With UFC Brass On Thursday, Gustafsson & Cormier Willing To Fight For Interim Belt

The whirlwind of news centered on UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ continues to rage on as “Bones” attempts to circumvent a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, whom UFC President Dana White stated was clearly next in line for a title shot.

With Jones wanting to fight No. 2-ranked Daniel Cormier instead. The champ and the promotion are at a bit of a standstill. However, Ariel Helwani just revealed on UFC Tonight that that could all change tomorrow, as “Bones” is headed to Las Vegas to meet with the bosses:

If they are unable to reach an agreement, then we could unfortunately end up seeing “The Mauler” face Cormier in a title eliminator bout. Helwani continued on to state that Gustafsson was willing, albeit with a stipulation:

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“He said yes, but only for an interim title.”

And Cormier, who was found to have some knee issues following his dominant UFC 173 win over Dan Henderson, said he might fight through the pain for an interim belt:

“He said he would delay any knee procedures that need to be done. He would like to get an extra month or so from that August 30 date to rehab the knee, but he would delay any kind of surgery to fight Alexander Gustafsson (or Jon Jones), but only if it’s for an interim title, so we’ll see what happens.”

It all depends on the meeting in Las Vegas tomorrow, but something tells me that Jon Jones has just been drumming up some hype and will sign on the dotted line this Thursday.

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His style is gaining haters by the droves these days, and that may just be exactly what he wants.

Photo: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports