Tom Aspinall’s digs at Jon Jones continue to get harsher with time.
Jones has been sidelined since pulling out of his scheduled heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023. Aspinall captured the interim title with a short-notice knockout win over Sergei Pavlovich on the same card. “Honey Badger” has since been calling for a title unifier against Jones, who remains intent on fighting Miocic upon his return to action. Jones vs. Miocic has been rumored for UFC 309 in November, though it has not been formally announced by the promotion.
In the meantime, Aspinall also defended his interim strap with a KO win over Curtis Blaydes in front of his home fans at UFC 304 in Manchester last month. Meanwhile, Jones has hinted at retirement after fighting Miocic, potentially by the end of the year. Former UFC champ Michael Bisping recently revealed that the fellow Brit called Jones a “fanny” when talking about his retirement plans. And Aspinall stands by his comments.
Aspinall believes Jones was desperately hoping that he lost to Blaydes so that “Bones” wouldn’t have to fight him. Aspinall notes that Jones has never publicly said that he would fight him.
“Jon Jones, he was praying that I would lose that fight against Curtis Blaydes. Praying that I would,” Aspinall said on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “Because there is nowhere that you can find publicly, nowhere, him saying that he will fight me… We know he’s a bit overweight these days. The guy sat there with the Cheeto fingers or whatever, Doritos on his fingers, with his iPhone in hand waiting for me to get knocked out so he can start tweeting about it. Let’s be honest. And since I won that fight, he’s gone completely quiet, and he’ll continue to go completely quiet about me until he retires because there’s no way on earth that he is gonna fight me. Not a chance. I will retire Jon Jones without even fighting him.”
Dana White has has remained insistent on preserving the Jones vs. Miocic matchup and the former light heavyweight champ’s legacy. The UFC head honcho has even appeared to lose his cool on multiple occasions about Jones losing his No. 1 pound-for-pound status in the UFC rankings. Aspinall disagrees with White’s stance and just wants the opportunity to prove it.
“I’m the best heavyweight in the world and I’m not getting my credit for it,” Aspinall said. “[He’s] holding the belt hostage mate and Jon Jones is loving it. He is loving the fact that Dana White is getting on every interview possible – freaking hell you’re talking about bantamweights and Dana White flips it back and starts talking about how good Jon Jones is. I’m like, ‘Mate if he’s that good, let us fight.’ I’m the No.1 heavyweight in the world right now, let’s put it on the line, let’s see who the man is, me or Jones.”
Aspinall also recently called for Miocic to be Joe Biden’d from the heavyweight title picture, citing the U.S. president’s withdrawal from the upcoming 2024 election. Reiterating his stance, Aspinall explains that he means no disrespect for either Miocic or Jones. But the interim heavyweight champ refuses to consider either of them worthy of a title right now.
“Why are you giving a guy who’s 42 or however old he is [a title shot]? I completely understand and have respect for Stipe and what he’s done in his career,’ Aspinall said. “And Jon Jones, on the contrary to what people might think. I respect them guys more than I could even put into words, but they don’t deserve to be f—-ing to be fighting for the heavyweight title. Them guys are not the top of the heavyweight division right now. Dana White and everybody else can say whatever they want.”
Jones hasn’t fought since winning the title with a first round submission win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023, which marked his return to action after three years. Meanwhile, Miocic hasn’t fought since losing his title to Francis Ngannou via brutal knockout at UFC 260 more than three years ago.
