“Is He Scared?…” Daniel Cormier Calls on Jon Jones’ Stained Legacy As ‘Quitter’ For Snubbing Tom Aspinall Fight

Daniel Cormier accuses Jon Jones of quitting and tainting legacy than face Tom Aspinall head-on in PPV title unification fight.

“Is He Scared?…” Daniel Cormier Calls on Jon Jones’ Stained Legacy As ‘Quitter’ For Snubbing Tom Aspinall Fight

Daniel Cormier keeps it real, with Jon Jones retiring than face Tom Aspinall (Source: X/IMAGO)

Very few people can boast proper insight into the historian of war, consensus GOAT, and promotion’s bastardized #1 Pound-for-pound name, Jon Jones. Not even Tom Aspinall has the honor to do so now that he has hung it up rather than ever face him. But one person who can truly provide insights and delve into it, is former rival and analyst Daniel Cormier.

Indeed, ex-UFC undisputed HW Jon Jones has called his early retirement, as he teased he would. It only took 7+ months of PPV compensation hassle and some ungodly multitude of days of Tom Aspinall holding an interim strap with the undisputed champ ignoring it.

UFC boss Dana White released the news on Saturday; Jones subsequently gave his nod to the news in a statement. Then his biggest UFC rival posted a reactionary video on YouTube to the revelation.

Unbelievable. I didn’t think it was gonna happen this fast, ....I said, ‘If Jon Jones doesn’t fight this guy, Jon Jones quit.’ Because he will walk away from something that has defined his entire adult life — It does not change the fact, by not stepping in that Octagon, he quit. He didn’t want to fight Tom Aspinall, it’s so surprising...Is he scared? No, but by not fighting Aspinall, he opened that conversation. He lets every one of you question why he doesn’t fight him.
Daniel “DC” Cormier via his Official YT Channel

Daniel Cormier is a two-time Jones rival. “Bones” took the ‘W’ home from Daniel Cormier twice, but the second was overturned to a no-contest after the rival tested positive for a Turinabol metabolite. Jon Jones also came in green for test pool estrogen blockers, clomiphene, and letrozole, right around 2016 vs. Ovince Saint Preux.

Cormier, despite their friction, has often lauded Jones’ MMA longevity through different eras and two divisions. He even logged a single HW title defense against common rival and ‘best 265-pounder’ Stipe Miocic via third-round TKO atop the UFC 309 PPV event headliner in November. Jones made easy, tactful work of it and picked apart Miocic systematically in the later rounds.

However, much like some others, he has often dumbed down his so-called GOAT status given his turbulent outside run. Calling it quits before fighting legit HW Champ in wing, Tom Aspinall, falls to blemish his legacy some more, per DC. However, he is keeping some unorthodox hope in reserve.

Daniel Cormier expects Jon Jones’ UFC comeback

For his part, heavyweight Jon Jones did say he told UFC Execs of his plan of hanging it up, as fledgling Tom Aspinall did nothing big to his legacy, unlike Cormier or Miocic, or even Francis Ngannou. During a training seminar Q&A at Bangtao Muay Thai MMA gym, he said there are some upcoming plans in the pipeline, not mentioning whether or not it was for him hanging it up.

If Tom Aspinall loses strap, a Jon Jones return possible in the reshuffle
If Tom Aspinall loses the strap, a Jon Jones return is possible in the reshuffle (Source: X)

The fighter out of Albuquerque even hinted it was the best brand choice for UFC litigation to keep him as the undisputed champ, given he made loads and was kept in the conversation despite doing absolutely ‘nothing’ and never giving his go-ahead to a PPV title unifier. But given the option, he would gladly take a legcay bow out.

Jon Jones later on teased a 2026 octagon return, only to regress at DBX2 and say he’d rather fight Tom Aspinall in other mixed rule settings than taint his UFC legacy. However, per Daniel Cormier’s version (and fans and other analysts/oddsmakers), avoiding UK Native Aspinall does it too.

I honestly feel like if Tom loses, he’ll come back, ...It is crazy to me, because that’s only going to make it worse; ...I don’t know if this is tactics by the UFC. I don’t know if this is frustrations with Jon Jones. I don’t know what this is. Does it feel like the end completely? I hope it does, because if he cares about his legacy, he doesn’t want to be sitting there beating up on guys that may get past Tom Aspinall.
Daniel “DC” Cormier further said on his Official YT Channel

There’s also the sizable downside given Aspinall has more 265-pound fights logged, and is the only banger PPV title fight option bankable for Bones. Tom Aspinall has run through a lot of the names in the logjammed top order to become the interim (now default undisputed) champ. So, Daniel Cormier is hopeful Bones makes a return:

With UFC 317 PPV IFW Showcase already set and rolling out, there are some other spots. UFC play-by-play Jon Anik previously theorized that Jones could be booked for a late 2025 (December) PPV booking at the T-Mobile.

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