UFC HALL OF FAMER Jon Jones will make his long-awaited debut as a heavyweight in April.
Since Dominick Reyes' controversial UFC 247 title defense against him, the former champion light-heavyweight has not been seen in the cage.
Jon Jones hasn’t been inside the Octagon for nearly two years
The former pound for pound king has taken advantage of his time on the sidelines, which was partly due to a dispute with the UFC brass, to bulk up before his long-awaited weight gain.
Bones will be back in action after almost two years of being on the sidelines.
KRQE was informed by him that he wanted to fight in April at Madison Square Garden or on a completely different date, like July at International Fight Week.
"Those are the dates I am kind of eyeing. It will all depend on who wins January between Francis Ngannou or Ciryl Gane. We'll take it from there."
Jones, 34, said he would be watching the winner of January's heavyweight title unified bout between Gane and Ngannou, former team-mates.
He stated, "It's only a few months now, I can't wait for January to see who wins this fight."
Jones could have fought for the heavyweight title if he had not continued to pack on the pounds.
SunSport recently heard from Richard Schaefer, his advisor, a veteran boxing promoter: "When Jon started to get involved, we had to, sort of repair the relationship between Jon and the UFC.
"And I had always had a great friendship with Dana White. He's a good friend of mine and Hunter Campbell. That was how I was able repair the relationship.
Jon understood that Twitter and the Twitter feuds between people is not conducive for a fight. He also understood that.
"He understood, and we achieved that.
"I made great progress in getting the UFC to allow Jon fight in his next fight in order to fight for UFC's heavyweight championship.
"Initially, we were targeting November, December.
"But Jon is kind of like the guy [points at a photograph], Bernard Hopkins] who is very organized in his preparations.
He felt that he needed to take a bit longer to gain the right amount of muscle mass.
He's a little over 260 now and wanted to gain 275 lbs.
"Not only do you gain weight, but also gain it in a smart and explosive way. He needed to take a bit longer.
"The UFC was again on board, and we were beginning to talk about a structure for that big heavyweight bout."
Jones's return to the Octagon is currently dependent on the outcome of his ongoing legal proceedings.
He was taken into custody by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in September and charged with misdemeanour battery, domestic violence, and injuring or manipulating a vehicle. This just hours after he was inducted into UFC Hall of Fame.
Jones denied any wrongdoing in this case. It is still being resolved.
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