HEAVYWEIGHT CLASS MAY AWAIT UFC’S JONES

seemed to pave the way for this matchup.

“I’ve been doubted my entire career,” Smith said. “I’m a smalltown kid from Nebraska, I’m not supposed to be here anyway, so we strip the name and face and get down to the problem ahead of us. No one’s ever counted on me to win.”

No one can fault Jones for wanting to stay busy. Although most, if not all, of the issues Jones has encountered are self-inflicted, they’ve resulted in taking away a significant portion of his fighting prime.

It’s been one thing after another for the phenom who once sought to craft a squeakyclean, son-of-a-preacher image. But there appears to be fatigue around Jones’ recklessness, both among the UFC and fight fans.

For better or for worse, the modus operandi of this stage of Jones’ career seems to be to zone it all out and watch him fight.

How else to explain the unprecedented move of uprooting an entire event in a week so that Jones could compete at UFC 232? How else to explain the card winding up a blockbuster success anyway with a sold-out crowd at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and a reported 700,000 pay-perview buys?

UFC 232 was in high demand, though, because Gustafsson had given Jones the toughest fight of his career in their first meeting. Fighters like Smith won’t supply the same draw.

That’s not to say Jones can’t take a mismatched fight or two, but at some point, there’s going to be dwindling returns. At some point, it’s going to be obvious that it’s not the best way to maximize the fighter with the most pure talent to ever enter the octagon.

Luckily, there’s an exit strategy. Jones has long been linked with a move to heavyweight, and the bigger weight class may hold some actual challenges.

It’s debatable whether a third fight with current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier holds any interest after Jones already beat him twice, but there’s also a prospective betting line out on a potential matchup with former belt-holder Stipe Miocic. Jones is only a minus-160 (risking $1.60 to win $1) favorite over Miocic, which would be his lowest odds in more than a decade.

Also working in Jones’ favor — or detriment — is that this same concern has a history of working itself out. Some of the recent fighters whom, like Jones, supposedly had no equals included Demetrious Johnson, Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey.

All three ended up getting upset to make it a moot point.

But it’s just so difficult to imagine Jones losing right now, especially if he’s done wrecking his own career. Let’s hope he can find someone else worth wrecking.

“I take Anthony Smith extremely serious,” Jones said. “He has 40 fights, he has double the experience I have and we’re going to treat him like that type of person despite how other people feel about it. He’ll get my undivided, full attention.”