“My Team Will Pick…” Jon Jones Ridicules Petition to Strip With 185,000+ Signatures, Dumbs Down Unification Calls

Petition asking UFC to strip Jon Jones of title has surpassed 185,000 signatures; Bones still disregards and mocks Tom Aspinall.

“My Team Will Pick…” Jon Jones Ridicules Petition to Strip With 185,000+ Signatures, Dumbs Down Unification Calls

Jon Jones snubs Tom Aspinall and title unifier (Source: IMAGO/X)

For months, the MMA public has been awaiting a title unification between one of the most talented fighters and a power puncher who could probably end his longevity. However, UFC heavyweight Jon Jones is more than just unwilling on a PPV title unifier. Interim champion Tom Aspinall’s legacy is too dainty to make a mark in his.

Tom Aspinall has gone to great lengths to bait him into a fight and has chosen to move on. He now also stands as the official longest-reigning interim champ in active competition. UFC veteran Matt Brown says Aspinall waiting out a bankable multi-million PPV title unifier isn’t the same as Michael Chandler waiting for Conor McGregor. But even so, Jon Jones is on a hard pass to show interest.

This week, an adamantly nonchalant “Bones” wrote he’d defeat the Brit by not giving him a chance at all! Jones later backed it up, disregarding calls for stripping him and taking a jolly out of asking why he should even consider fighting Tom Aspinall.

Instead of signing some petition, I’m gonna need at least 200 five-page essays from TA fans around the world. Double spaced, MLA format. Convince me. My team will pick their favorites and get back to you… eventually.

Jon Jones via X (@JonnyBones)

This, in fact, isn’t the Chandler-McGregor situation at all. McGregor pulled out of UFC 303 PPV kickoff media pressers at 3Arena due to an injury. Tom Aspinall subbed in when Bones was injured in 2023. It’s been a long ride since that. As if the last 7 months and Jones’ PPV monetary compensation (rumored to stand around $12 million) and a six-month ask weren’t enough, he is still pushing through with little to no interest.

There is also a fan petition going at change.org for commission officials to take notice and strip him of his heavyweight gold. An unfazed Bones even doused he isn’t afraid of it, and that it’d rather be better to keep him as the heavyweight brand face, given he’s a company man. With the petition to strip reaching an eye-opening 185,000 signatures and nearing 200,000, even UFC peers have weighed in.

UFC names give their take on stripping Jon Jones of the UFC heavyweight title away from unification

The UFC 265-pound gold has only been defended once in the two years Jones has held it. The circumstances surrounding that were controversial, as ‘Bones’ faced criticism for challenging Stipe Miocic over interim champion Tom Aspinall. It’s been more than half a year since then, and yet there’s no word on PPV title unification. Jon Jones has very little enthusiasm on taking up the challenge.

UFC names pitch in on stripping Jon Jones
UFC names pitch in on stripping Jon Jones (Source: X)

Former two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes was in New Jersey for a UFC 316 PPV Media Day Fan Q&A. Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison duke it out for the WMMA bantamweight crown, with heavy rumors that “Lioness” might return to face the winner. Nunes, who ended her ‘champ-champ’ run after defending the 135-pound title against Irene Aldana, gave her take on the calls to strip Jones.

You know, I would take that for me too. If I didn’t retire, I would have stopped the division, …I would have been a year-and-a-half waiting for the belt and the girls would have been like waiting for me until I had the answers. So I just retired! I know I can get the belt back whenever I want, and I just retired and then come back later…Maybe he [too] can lose the belt and see what happens later…

Amanda Nunes during a UFC 316 PPV Media Day Fan Q&A Session (@TheMacLife)

Unlike Nunes, who cited her own example, #4-ranked bantamweight Cory Sandhagen (who has designs for gold and gets what’s at stake) said Jon Jones should be stripped, if not opting for a Tom Aspinall scrap. Many others have voiced the same.

The fate of the heavyweight division remains uncertain for now. Bones has tried to laugh it off, given the hold he has. But without an opponent and with Aspinall booked elsewhere, his stature could be fast dwindling in the near future.

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