Jon Jones dismisses Johnny Walker after UFC 244 loss: ‘There’s only one’

Jon Jones just witnessed one of his would-be challengers take a step back in the contenders’ line.

In the closing preliminary bout of UFC 244, Corey Anderson handed Johnny Walker his first UFC loss in emphatic fashion, finishing the Brazilian star with strikes just over two minutes into round one. Walker, who won his first three UFC fights by first-round knockout, had been viewed as a potential challenger to Jones’s light heavyweight throne, and he’d publicly called out Jones on several occasions.

Following Walker’s loss, Jones immediately issued a series of tweets that were dismissive of Walker.

“There’s only one,” Jones wrote in one tweet.

“So much for the early Christmas present. This is exactly why I just let them light heavyweight (sic) do all the talking,” he later added.

He also made a reference to middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, another name that has been thrown into the mix of potential Jones opponents.

“Yeah just like Izzy, I don’t get too impressed too quickly,” Jones wrote. “I’ve been around way too long, I’ve seen a lot of people come and go.”

With Walker out of the title picture for now, Anderson appears to be the next fresh challenger for Jones, having derailed the Walker hype train to win his fourth straight fight. Anderson has done his fair share of lobbying for a bout with Jones, confronting him at an autograph signing in New Jersey this past July and expressing his displeasure with UFC officials for underselling him as a contender.

Later in the evening, Jones made sure to acknowledge Anderson: