If Jon Jones really moved up to HW.

I don't think it's a too much of a stretch to imagine Jon Jones moving up to HW, maybe within 12 months.  I'd like to see him fight Dan Henderson, whom I think will give him not much trouble.

I'd also like to see him fight Alexander Gustafsson.  I think Alex is coming of age in an MMA sense and might give Jon a good fight, even if I can't really see him beating him.

So, seeing as Jon is fast running out of credible, viable contenders at LHW, I assume he will be moving up in about a year's time.  And when he does, whom do you think he should be looking at initially?

I think he should not fight Junior, Cain, Alistar or Shane right off the bat.

I am thinking his perfect first fight at HW would be Frank Mir.  Frank is more than competitive on his feet and on the ground.

And after that, Roy Nelson, Matt Mitrione, Brandan Schaub and Stefan Struve would make for interesting fights.  I think Jon Jones would beat all of them.  And after them, bring on the Big Boys!

Any thoughts?  Discuss.

* Edited at 08.09.2012, 4:13 PM ET *

I think @yaspaa is right. Bones' power is over 9,000 and that's all there is to it

* Edited at 08.09.2012, 9:03 PM ET *

I just cannot concur, Gebe.  I think Jones is less interested in his reputation than he is of beating the best.  After he cleans out the LHW division, I think it is somewhat inevitable that he move up.  The division and he would stagnate if he didn't.

His success in moving up will depend heavily how well he gains weight and if it is muscle.  If his body accepts the extra muscle, he should incur few problems.  I can easily see him fighting at a lean 230-235.  But I wouldn't want him to do it via the steroid route as I highly suspect Overeem did.  He should go gradually, under the supervised program of someone who knows how these things are done.

And if he can successfully navigate those tricky paths, the next set of issues is deciding on a sensible succession of HW opponents.  Maybe I was too ambitious in suggesting Mir as his Maiden Voyage of Discovery in HW.

Maybe he might begin with more circumspection and deliberate care.  Perhaps Roy Nelson or Matt Mitrione might make a little more sense.  

We will have to wait and see, just wait
Jones at heavyweight will be embarrassing for him :)
He is a freak of nature at 205 
he is no better than average at heavyweight. 

I don't know about him ever moving to HW. Size is a big factor in UFC, I don't see JJ putting himself in a disadvantage. I do think him and Daniel Cormier will meet sometime in the near future. I just don't know if it will be LHW or HW.

I consider Jon Jones built much along the same lines as Anderson Silva.  Both are tall, lanky and rangy.  I personally believe that both could put on a significant amount of muscle weight and not have their fighting skills adversely impacted.  But I admit that that is only a personal opinion, and it would have to depend on how the weight was added.

If it was done gradually, with natural methods and not using steroids, their body types could sustain maybe an increase of 30 lbs. of muscle over what they currently weigh in at.  Silva could go to 215, and Jones to 235. 

But I have absolutely no objective evidence to support this personal opinion.  Just going by how they look now.  

* Edited at 08.10.2012, 3:04 AM ET *

Jon Jones is definitely talented enough to compete against the HWs of the UFC, but having much in common with Anderson Silva, the question is, if he is dominating so well in his weight class, why move up in weight, and run the risk of tarnishing his legacy?

We would all love to see the great fighters really challenge themselves, and for us getting to see Superfights would be a dream come true. Jose Aldo fighting the top LWs like Frankie Edgar, Ben Henderson, Gray Maynard, or quite possibly a fight with BJ Penn. GSP fighting the top MWs like Chael Sonnen, Tim Boestch, Michael Bisping, or a the Superfight many have wanted for years Anderson Silva. Anderson fighting top LHWs like Shogun, Rashad Evans, Rampage, or Jon Jones. Jon Jones fighting top HWs like Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Allistair Overeem, Cain Velasquez, or JDS. Just because it seems that these fighters have cleaned house in their respective divisions, and have little to no viable opponents left, doesn't make it so. Many times over, just as it seems that there's noone left, someone comes along, or even more often so, 5 somebodys come along.

For Jones right now, it seems like all that's left is Henderson and Gustafsson, but we can't forget about possible rematches with Lyoto Machida, Shogun, and then there's still Glover Texeira. A lot can happen in a year's time. The next big challenge at 205 could be available and marketable for Jones, or there could be 5 great contenders that come along in the next 12 months.

The biggest factor of all coming into this thought is................would Jones even consider or want to fight at HW?

If Jones does choose to fight at HW, and that's a big if, like at LHW, I would hope that Dana White would want to bring Jones along at HW kind of slowly. I think that his first opponent should be someone like Brendan Schaub, Stefan Struve, or Cheick Kongo. If he fares well against them ,the give him a big HW like Mark Hunt or Roy Nelson. Jones wins that one in convincing fashion, then a top 5 HW like Frank Mir, Cain, or Alistair Overeem, and of course after than give Jones a shot at the HW title, but you're talking about a lot of ifs and scenarios that I just don't think are going to happen. 

Wow, jay.  That was an absolutely superb post.  So much intelligent thought went into it.  You write very well.  Like someone would talk.  So, thanks for that excellent post!

This post is just so good, I think I will make a thread out of it.  You bring up so many excellent arguing points that responding in one post just isn't enough.  Your post deserves to be dissected and discussed.  It will make for a very interesting and valid discussion.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you, jay.  Where you been?  I haven't seen you before.  Hope I see you lots more after this!

@Bill Check out Jays 10 point breakdowns he does on some of the big fights. The only HUGE post by anyone on this site worth reading everytime :P. 99% of the time he's bang on with every point.

* Edited at 08.10.2012, 2:28 PM ET *

What the UFC is starting to think is the fighters are now calling the shots. They all want 2-3 months to train for a fight and won't step in in 3 weeks notice because they don't want to be set up for a loss. I respect that very much but at the same time I think UFC just wants to make the events happen as much as possible thru as much venues as possible as we seen this year with FAX, fox, and ppv. The results lately have shown the cards get watered down and more fighters are getting injured. Body's need time to rec cooperate. Going from camp to camp fighting 4 times a year a fighter is likely to get more injured. There needs to be a little time off I between fights, unless the fighter gets a quick KO like JDS did to Velasquiz, even then JDS was fighting with a injured knee. Silva fought Sonnen with a few bruised ribs the first match and Sonnen almost walked away with a win. Fighters need at least 8 weeks minimum to get ready and get in shape for a fight. Exactly as Evans and Machida were saying. Its not that they are linking out, its because they want to be equipped with the tools to win. 

UFC just wants to put cards together and screw what the results will be, they just want to make as many paychecks as possible. Can't blame them for doing so. That's why I don't see many super fights happening. One big earner has to then loose. Sure they might have one big match up once per year. This year it was supposed to be Edgar vs Aldo. That was only because Edgar was stripped of his title so they offered another title for him with Aldo. GSP won't get a fight with Silva unless Condit beats him at WW. What we can get excited for is DC is a very light HW. He could fight at 205 in the near future and Evans could fight at 185. These two fighters pose a huge threat for Jones and Silva. Also after seeing Jones almost getting submitted by Belfort in UFC 152, I see Weidman coming up to 205 to challenge Jones.

Jones could prob. beat some of the lower level guys but most heavyweights would smash him cause he wouldn't be able to rag doll them like he does the LHW fighters 

Outside of maybe JDS, I wouldn't count Jones out against any heavyweight.  He has a much more dynamic skill set than anyone in that division.  His reach and superb wrestling ability can make up for a lot of size.

The key is that there isn't as much of a size difference as people seem to think.  JDS, Cain, Miocic, Big Nog, Cormier... these are all examples of guys that are pretty much the same size as Jones.  Maybe 5-10 pounds difference.  It's not substantial.

would be interesting to see him fight Werdum.
his guard is more dangerous than Belfort's and he is difficult to KO.
in my mind either Werdum submits him or we have a somewhat boring decision with jones moving a lot.

Make his 1st hw fight against Bigfoot (who's looked lie crap lately but i suspect he's going to surprise the young prospect next week)  A big guy, who's not super fast and w meh TDD