Though it might not always seem like it, Tom
Aspinall is an admirer of Jon Jones’
body of work.
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That is at least part of the reason that the Englishman has been so
determined in his pursuit of a fight against the current
UFC heavyweight champion.
“I think Jon is amazing at MMA,” Aspinall said on the High
Performance podcast. “You can never be a complete UFC fighter.
It’s impossible. That’s one of the things that draws me to the
sport so much because you’re constantly chasing perfection — but
you’re never gonna get it. No one’s ever gonna be the perfect,
complete fighter. But Jon, in my opinion, if you look at his body
of work over the last 15 years, he’s as close to perfection as you
can get as possible.
“That being said, he’s got a lot of miles on the clock and he’s
fighting one of the most concussive punchers in UFC history. I just
think I can exploit it. I think to get out the way of me for 25
minutes, at this point in his career, without getting hit once —
and that’s all I need is one — that’s going to be very difficult
for anybody.”
While he believes age, power and speed is on his side, Aspinall
acknowledged that Jones’ long history of title fights and main
events will be his greatest advantage.
“He’s got a lot more experience than I do. He knows how to stay in
there. He’s fought guys similar to me before. He’s had plenty [of]
massive fight experience, where I’ve only main evented in the UFC
four or five times now,” Aspinall said. “He’s done that for the
last 15 years. Being in those high pressure situations and those
massive fights, and if you’ve been there a lot of times before in
comparison to someone like me … it does make a big difference. I’m
completely aware of that. But that’s where he has the advantage is
the experience.”
Aspinall has been the UFC’s interim heavyweight king since November
2023, when he stopped Sergei
Pavlovich in the opening frame at Madison Square Garden. Jones
was initially supposed to face Stipe
Miocic on that same UFC 295 card but was forced to withdraw
from the event after suffering a torn pectoral. When “Bones” was
recovered, he insisted on a legacy fight against Miocic — event
though Aspinall held the interim belt. After he made relatively
easy work of Miocic at UFC 309 this past November, Jones suggested
that it would take an extremely lucrative offer from the promotion
to get him to accept a fight against Aspinall.
Thus far, there doesn’t seem to be much progress on a date for that
fight, though UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly expressed
confidence that it will eventually come to fruition.
“Me, personally, I can’t do anything. I just think it’s down to
money on his side. I will fight whenever, wherever he wants — but
it’s down to money I think,” Aspinall said.
“I just think that at this stage in his career, he’s had an amazing
career, I just think that he’s like 37, 38 years old, but not only
that, he’s got a million miles on the clock. So he’s got a lot of
damage on the body, he’s [taken] a lot of shots to the head. And
that’s not me saying anything negative about that. That’s the
reality of it, and I’m sure Jon Jones is aware of that.”
While Aspinall has been quite vocal on social media and in
interviews regarding his desire for the Jones fight, even he has
grown weary of the chase. During the interview on the podcast, he
alluded to an upcoming meeting with UFC brass regarding a “plan”
for the division. Aspinall has not fought since last July, and he’s
ready to put his talents to work again — whether it’s against Jones
or someone else.
“I’m well bored of it. I’ve had enough,” Aspinall said. “I think we
either need to fight, or I need to move on to something else.”