Jon Jones announces Fury Professional Grappling bout against Bellator’s Jake Hager for Dec. 9

Jon Jones says fans will soon see him back in action, even if it’s not inside the octagon.

On Saturday, Jones announced via Twitter that he will participate in a grappling bout against Bellator fighter and All Elite Wrestling standout Jake Hager (Jones uses Hager’s former WWE alias of “Jack Swagger” in the tweet) at a Fury Grappling event on Dec. 9 in New Jersey.

A promotion official for Fury Professional Grappling, a spin-off of the Cage Fury Fighting Championships promotion, confirmed to MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck the planned booking but asked to remain anonymous because it hasn’t been made official. Fury Professional Grappling events typically air on UFC Fight Pass.

This is not the first grappling event that the three-time UFC light heavyweight champion has participated in. Jones previously appeared at a North American Grappling Association event in 2016.

Jones has not competed in an MMA contest since Feb. 8, 2020, at UFC 247 in Houston where he retained the light heavyweight title with a close decision win over Dominick Reyes. He would later vacate that title during a public pay dispute with the UFC as well as in anticipation of a move to the heavyweight division.

This past September, on the same evening that Jones and Alexander Gustafsson were inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for their fight at UFC 165, Jones was arrested and charged with domestic battery and tampering with a vehicle following an incident in Las Vegas.

See more from Jones on the grappling bout announcement below:

Hager responded to Jones’ announcement, correcting Jones calling him by his former name and confirming that contracts are yet to be signed for the proposed bout.

“We can talk if terms are right,” Hager wrote.