Gable Steveson is serious about Jon Jones wanting to come back to the UFC.
Earlier this week, Tom Aspinall vacated the UFC heavyweight title after suffering another setback in training that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future. After Aspinall’s announcement, Jones spent some time relishing the moment on social media, and then his protegé revealed that with Gane being promoted from interim to undisputed champion, Jones is allegedly considering a comeback.
Speaking at UFC 331 media day, Steveson confirmed that he spoke with Jones about a possible comeback, and the former light heavyweight champion is interested.
“I called Jon today, and he’s honored to have the opportunity to maybe come back,” Steveson said. “He’s always had gold around his waist. It’s cool to have him in my corner. We train every day, one-on-one together.
“And I hope Tom gets well. I hope the eye gets healed up the way it should, and maybe he’ll step in the cage again; I’m not sure. That’s going to be up to him. I’ve always been a Tom Aspinall fan. I think he’s an athletic gift from God that came down and struck the division, but now it’s time to move on and get the guys with the next gift to step up.”
Jones and Aspinall had an unsatisfying rivalry for the past several years when Aspinall was interim heavyweight champion, and Jones was the undisputed champion. Instead of unifying their titles, Jones first fought Stipe Miocic, and then waffled about potentially fighting Aspinall before retiring last year. After the UFC White House event was announced, Jones attempted to unretire, but he still hasn’t fought, and it’s unclear if the UFC would even be interested in having a rematch between Jones and Ciryl Gane.
If not, Steveson believes Josh Hokit should get the first crack at the new champion.
“I would love — Josh Hokit would be cool to get the opportunity,” Steveson said. “You guys know that Josh is a guy that talks a mile a minute; he puts himself on the map, so it would be nice for him to get an opportunity and see what he can do. I think he can do great, but I think Ciryl Gane is our best heavyweight right now. He’s fantastic, and maybe someone will step up to the plate in a short time, soon, and we’ll see.”
As for himself, Steveson knows he’s not quite ready to fight for UFC gold, but the Olympic champion believes he’s well on his way, saying he envisions a title shot within two years.
“I think if I keep training hard, and I keep staying at the pace that I am, I think in the next year and a half or year, that I could get to that spot,” Steveson said. “Obviously, I’ve just got to make sure that we’re in the right mindset to make that leap and to get to that competition. But I feel like I’ve been a competitor my whole life; I wrestled the best of the best; I went against the best of the best in every single sport, so it ain’t no thing to go against the next big thing, and I feel like I can be that.”
Steveson fights Sean Sharaf on the main card of UFC 331 this Saturday.
