Daniel Cormier would like to see Jon Jones take on Alex Pereira if he gets past Stipe Miocic.
Heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) is expecting his first title defense vs. Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) to take place at UFC 309 Nov. 9 in New York.
This past Saturday in the UFC 303 headliner, light heavyweight champion Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) notched his second title defense when he knocked out Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in their rematch.
Jones admitted to a fan when answering their question on “X,” that he’s unsure about retirement and that “options are looking crazy right now.” With Pereira previously teasing a move to heavyweight, Cormier sees a fight with Jones as the best possible move.
“I’ll tell you one thing Jones said: Now he might stick around because he goes, ‘The options are looking great,'” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren.
“If I’m Jones, I fight Stipe, I beat Stipe, and then I call out the UFC to make Pereira go up (to heavyweight), knowing that you could take all that thunder because Jones vs. Pereira would be a massive payday.”
Ben Askren thinks Jones vs. Pereira would look similar to Jones’ quick submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, and Cormier agrees.
“Jones is a -800 favorite to fight Pereira and beat Pereira, if they were to fight,” Cormier said. “So it’s not a great matchup, but I love Alex, man. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.
