Jon Jones casually dropped a bit of a retirement bombshell that had UFC fans pleading for the heavyweight champ not to hang up his gloves.
The MMA icon sent fans into meltdown when he began tweeting about his potential championship defence against Stipe Miocic.
It had been rumoured to be slated for international fight week in July but those plans reportedly fell through, according to ESPN.
UFC President Dana White then admitted that the company were hoping to house the mega fight at their annual pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in November.
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White told reporters following UFC Kansas City: “That’s where we’d like to do it.”
Bones commented on the possibility of fighting in his home state, and went one step further by admitting it would be ‘cool’ to finish his career there.
He tweeted: “How cool would it be to spend my retirement fight dominating the greatest heavyweight of all time, in my home state at Madison Square Garden?”
MMA fans did not hold back with what they thought about the heavyweight champion possibly retiring as soon as November.
After all the 35-year-old only just returned to the UFC after a three-year hiatus.
He returned with an all-time performance against Circyl Gane to capture the vacant title and only left fans wanting more from heavyweight Jones.
One fan tweeted: “Ain’t no way we waited a whole 3 years for him to come back just to see him retire after 2 fights…”
Another wrote: “No seriously...you can't do that to us Jonny!”
A third added: “The thoughts of Jones retiring after sitting out for 3 years & only coming back to fight twice makes me sick to my stomach but it's a real possibility.”
Even UFC middleweight Chris Curtis couldn’t comprehend, writing: “Wait, what? You just came back…”
The response seemingly had Jones have a change of heart - although, whether he was actually being serious about retirement is up for debate.
He replied to one fan who had told him they weren't ‘ready for your retirement’.
He replied: “OK my bad, I’ll keep fighting.”
Let’s hope we get a fair few more fights out of Bones yet.
Topics: UFC, MMA, Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic
Jayden Collins