Tom
Aspinall’s digs at Jon Jones
continue to get harsher with time.
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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.