Jon Jones wants fight a Heavyweight in 2012

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was on Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour on Monday, and he certainly had an interesting piece of news for anyone who was watching.

"Bones" told UFC president Dana White, as well as UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, that he would like to fight a top-10 heavyweight if he were to get past 205-pound contenders Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson.

"I actually asked Dana and Lorenzo, could I take a fight for the fans at the end of 2012," Jones told Helwani.

"I figured beating Henderson and Rashad, there would be a period where we'd figure out who I'm going to fight next, and during that period, at the end of 2012, I asked to fight a heavyweight—a top-10 heavyweight."

However, the UFC higher brass were not a fan of the idea.

"Dana and Lorenzo didn't think that was the best for me to do right now," Jones stated. "They wanted me to continue at the light heavyweight division. ... They said they didn't want that for me."

This will undoubtedly lead to speculation about how much difficulty Jones is having making the 205-pound light heavyweight limit.

Whatever the case may be, Jones is coming off a stellar 2011 campaign that showcased wins over Ryan Bader, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida.

The victories are even more impressive considering that Jones finished each opponent by either TKO or submission.

Next on the docket for the 24-year-old New York native is former Greg Jackson MMA training partner and friend Rashad Evans.

The two will clash at UFC 145, set to take place on April 21st in Atlanta, Ga.

Dana White: Rashad Evans Wins and Remains Injury Free, He Gets Bones Jones Next

When Rashad Evans faces Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2 on Jan. 28 in Chicago, he will control his own destiny and his goal of facing former friend and training partner Jon “Bones” Jones next.

Speculation began to swirl last week after UFC president Dana White said in an interview that Jones was already done with his vacation and looking to get back in action sooner rather than later. He mentioned that Jones could potentially face former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson next, with most pointing at the UFC 145 fight card in Montreal as a possible landing spot.

While anything is still possible, on Tuesday when speaking with the Jim Rome Show, White said that Jones is indeed ready to get back in the cage, but if Evans wins on Jan. 28 and comes out unscathed, he’ll get his chance to face the champion.

“We’re working on it now. We’re going to obviously see what happens in this Rashad fight at the end of the month. The next fight on Fox, Rashad is fighting (Phil) Davis, so we’ll see what happens there,” White said on Tuesday.

“If Rashad wins, if Rashad comes out injury free, we’ll get the Jon ‘Bones’ Jones/Rashad Evans fight going.”

That’s obviously good news for Evans, who had to be curious what the next course of action would be should he defeat Davis.

Evans was always assured of a title shot with a win, but now that Jones is ready to return and the UFC 145 card in Montreal needs a main event, it just seemed to make sense to put the UFC light heavyweight champion at the top of that card.

As for Dan Henderson, he may have just become the biggest Phil Davis fan in the sport, because if Davis upsets Evans, then the longtime UFC and former Pride fighter will most likely get the next shot at Jones.

The UFC on Fox 2 main event will tell the tale however. If Evans wins and comes out injury free, he may finally get his chance to settle the score with Jon Jones in the Octagon.

Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson Headed to UFC 145?

UFC 145 in Montreal is currently sitting in limbo without a main event, but Jon “Bones” Jones may once again swoop in like Superman to save the day.

Just after Jones defeated Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 in Toronto, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion had said he was planning an extended vacation after four fights in 2011, but that plan has already gone south.

According to UFC president Dana White, who spoke to ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas, Jones has had enough downtime already, and he’s calling for another fight as soon as possible.

“The funny thing you should say about Jon Jones and him saying he wants some time off, he called up four days ago and said ‘okay, let’s go I’m done with vacation.’ He said he wanted to take all this time off and then they were calling me four days ago saying he wants to fight as soon as possible. He’s ready to go,” White told the radio show.

In Jones’ last fight, he helped to save that card as well when the UFC had scheduled a show on Dec. 10 in Toronto, but didn’t have a main event set in the general time as usual. Jones had just competed at the end of September with a win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but he stepped up when the UFC asked him to help fill the main event slot at UFC 140 just over 2 months later.

Now with the champion already done with his vacation three weeks after his last fight, White might take him up on his offer to fill the vacancy at UFC 145 in Montreal.

While nothing is set in stone yet, all signs are pointing towards a showdown with former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson.

Henderson is just coming off of his Fight of the Year performance over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 139 in November. Within a week of that bout ending, he was already calling the UFC president asking for another fight.

As Montreal awaits a main event, White just may oblige him with a title fight against Jones.

“What could end up happening is Dan Henderson fights Jon Jones first, and then it would be close to the time that Rashad (Evans) fights. Or we see how things go with Rashad and if he fights him first,” said White.

Evans fights Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2 on Jan. 28 in Chicago. The fight card in Montreal is currently slated for March 24, so if Evans is successful in his bout against Davis, there is still the turn around factor being less than two months until a title fight, plus injuries and other things could go wrong that could prevent such a quick return.

In that case, Henderson is the obvious choice, and gives the UFC something to promote during the UFC on Fox 2 card if they opt to go that route.

Either way, Jon Jones remains the prime candidate to be at least one piece of the main event puzzle for UFC 145 in Montreal. Now it just depends on who he would face if the fight gets put together.

Heart of a Champion: Jon Jones wants to Fight 4 Times This Year'

After having an unprecedented run last year, Jon Jones is ready to return to the Octagon and continue his dominance throughout the light heavyweight division.

After defeating Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Jones went on to capture the UFC light heavyweight crown from Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. He then successfully defended it against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida. Following his recent victory over Machida at UFC 140, the 24-year-old said he would like to take some time off and relax.

However, it looks like Jones might ditch that idea and come back sooner than later.

"Originally I said I wanted to take off four or five months, but I may reconsider and come back sooner and have three or four fights this year," Jones told ESPN.com.

Should the 205-pound champion decide to return, it is expected that he would compete in April, which would likely see him square off against either Rashad Evans or Dan Henderson. Evans is scheduled to meet light heavyweight prospect Phil Davis at UFC on FOX 2 on January 28.

Jones' four consecutive wins have led many fans to consider it the most successful year ever produced by a mixed martial artist. And after having such a remarkable year, Jones is poised to replicate that same success.

"I've been thinking recently about trying to compete four times in the year again. I grew so much as a person that by doing that again in 2012 will just make me a better athlete," he said. "My goal is to finish every fight in 2012. If I do that, a lot of other things will fall into place naturally."

Now that's what I call having a heart of the champion, Jones is really bent on defending his title and becoming the best MMA fighter in history.

UFC 139 Results

The Results are in, and after a day (here in the Philippine) of hard fought and exciting fights UFC 139 had provide answers to many burning questions.

Here are the results:

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson defeats Mauricio by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47).

Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le

Silva defeats Le by technical knockout (knees and punches) at 4:49 of the second round.

Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles

Faber defeats Bowles by submission (guillotine choke) at 1:27 of the second round.

Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story

Kampmann defeats Story by split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28).

Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury

Bonnar defeats Kingsbury by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-27).

Ryan Bader vs. Jason Brilz

Bader defeats Brilz by knockout (punch) at 1:17 of the first round.

Michael McDonald vs. Alex Soto

McDonald defeats Soto by knockout (punches) at 0:56 of the first round.

Tom Lawlor vs. Chris Weidman

Weidman defeats Lawlor by submission (D'Arce choke) at 2:07 of the first round.

Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael dos Anjos

Tibau defeats dos Anjos by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27).

Miguel Torres vs. Nick Pace

Torres defeats Pace by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Matt Brown vs. Seth Baczynski

Baczynski defeats Brown by submission (guillotine choke) at 0:42 of the second round.

Shamar Bailey vs. Danny Castillo

Castillo defeats Bailey by technical knockout (punches) at 4:52 of the first round.

With their respective wins, Dan Henderson would seem to be a front-runner to challenge the winner of the Jones and Machida title fight and Uriah Faber would be the number 1 contender for Dominick Cruz's bantamweight title. Also, after sub-par performances, can we say "The Axe Murderer" is back.

It was a great day of fights. Hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did.