After his KO victory last night at UFC 214, Jon Jones called out Brock Lesnar, saying, “Brock Lesnar… If you want to know what it feels like to get your ass kicked by a guy who weighs 40 pounds less than you, meet me in the octagon.”
The Associated Press asked Brock Lesnar for a response shortly after, and he said:
“Be careful what you wish for, young man.”
Jon Jones also expanded on his challenge in a post-fight interview:
“We’re serious about it, and it would be great for the MMA world. It would bring more of the general public to mixed martial arts, and that’s what we need. We need to expand our sport, so why not be the guy to take part in that?”
“My team said, ‘You could beat Brock. You’ll have to dig deep, but you can do this.’”
“I think Brock has a limited game. I think it’s a winnable fight.”
“If I’m going to sacrifice being the smaller guy, I think stylistically, Brock would be a fight that makes more sense. The payday would be tremendous. The (impact) for our sport would be tremendous. … I feel like Stipe [Miocic] is not known to the general public. Most people don’t really know who he is, no disrespect. A fight against Brock makes more sense.”
UFC president Dana White tried to calm things down a bit though, saying:
“It’s fun to talk about, but the reality of it happening anytime soon, it’s not a reality.”
If a fight does happen, it would be at least 6 months from now (the required minimum for a retired MMA fighter to be part of the USADA testing pool). Brock Lesnar’s WWE contract expires after WrestleMania in April, so it seems likely that it would even be after then, though he could still fight while under WWE contract with WWE’s permission.
Jon Jones is currently a light heavyweight at 205 lbs, but could easily move up to the heavyweight division (206-265). Brock Lesnar is about 265 lbs.