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According to Dana White, Jon Jones is officially no longer the UFC light heavyweight champion.
The UFC president spoke to reporters after Dana White’s Contender Season 4: Week 3 and was asked about Jones’ announcement on Monday that he was canceling the title.
“It’s official, yeah,” White said. “While we were here I went live on SportsCenter and announced it between one of the fights and announced it all.
It was also reported by ESPN on Monday that a fight between Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will take place on September 26 at UFC 253. Several people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans have confirmed the reservation to MMA Fighting.
White would go on to confirm that the next big pay-per-view event will now have two world title fights, alongside Israel Adesanya defending his middleweight championship against Paulo Costa in the main event.
“Yeah, that’s for the vacant title,” White said of the Reyes-Blachowicz fight for the undisputed light heavyweight title.
Moments later, the UFC officially announced that a new 205-pound champion will be crowned in the main co-event of UFC 253 via its official website.
After quitting his title, Jones said he and the promotion had “a really positive conversation” and negotiations for his next fight will be in the heavyweight division.
White would double down on the idea of Stipe Miocic – who beat Daniel Cormier in the main event of Saturday night’s UFC 252 event to retain his heavyweight title – will make his next title defense against Francis Ngannou. No timeline is currently in place for this fight to end.
As for Jones’ heavyweight future, White was not committed.
“I know Jon, right now, wants to take the time to do the things he wants to do,” White said. “If you follow him on Instagram, he shoots a lot, loves working with these attack dogs, lifts a lot of weight, and I think he’s having a bit of fun living his life. I think when this whole heavyweight thing rolls around, we’ll see what works for him.
“I don’t know exactly what the right result will be but we’ll see.”
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