Jon Jones challenges Usyk to cage fight, won't box

Jon Jones has responded to reports linking him with newly retired boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk, but only if the Ukrainian enters the cage on his terms.

Usyk recently vacated his heavyweight titles and suggested one final fight. The Ring Magazine reported that Jones emerged as a leading candidate to face Usyk in what would be a major crossover bout promoted by Saudi power broker Turki Alalshikh, per MMA Mania. Jones addressed the speculation in an interview with The Ring, making clear he will not enter a boxing ring.

Jones cites Usyk's wrestling background but demands MMA ruleset

The UFC heavyweight acknowledged Usyk's credentials while pivoting to his own conditions. "Usyk is Usyk, man, he is one of the absolute GOATs of heavyweight boxing," Jones told The Ring. "I also am aware that he does wrestling, and that wrestling has been a heavy part of his training for many years, which is probably why he is so dominant in the clinch." He added that Usyk has "the highest potential of making it competitive" in MMA among heavyweight boxers, but concluded: "I am no boxer."

Jones went further in dismissing the idea of a pure boxing match. "To handicap myself by only using my hands is not the world that I come from," he said. He closed with a pointed assessment: "I don't really consider Usyk to be a complete fighter. I think the world knows what would happen if we were locked in the same room."

Jones remains in the UFC's drug testing pool despite his ambiguous fight status. If Usyk and Alalshikh want the former light heavyweight champion, they will have to agree to Octagon rules — an unlikely outcome given the number of boxers who have crossed over to MMA remains vanishingly small compared to the traffic in the opposite direction.

Reported via:

• MMA Mania — Jon Jones challenges Oleksandr Usyk to a cage fight: ‘I am not a boxer’