Dana White told reporters that Jon Jones is a year away from a title shot. They are bringing him along slowly but they are planning on giving him a "top-8" opponent next. The UFC has its own private rankings system and we are left to speculate who they put in the top 8 (presumably Jones is 9th). Lets work it out: The first three are obvious: 1. Shogun Rua (champion) 2. Rashad Evans (confirmed #1 contender) 3. Lyoto Machida (last champion) Here are my guesses for the next five: 4. Quinton Jackson 5. Forrest Griffin 6. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 7. Thiago Silva 8. Rich Franklin The following fights are already booked: (1) Rua vs. (2) Evans, to be announced (3) Machida vs. (4) Jackson, UFC 122 (6) Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader, UFC 121 (7) Thiago Silva vs. Tim Boetsch, UFC 117 The unbooked fighters are Griffin and Franklin. They are rumoured to be fighting each other next. So it follows that Jones' next opponent will likely be Thiago Silva assuming he wins this weekend. That is the quickest fight to book. Otherwise the UFC could wait to put Jones up against one of the other winners further down the road, possibly as late as Christmas. The other possibility is Jones fighting the winner of Couture/Toney but I think that is less likely. Toney is not a top-anything fighter in the division regardless of the outcome of the Couture fight. Couture hasn't fought at light heavyweight enough to earn a top ranking, though the UFC does love to give him main events and title shots.
