UFC Legend Warns Jon Jones on Not Going Overboard in Negotiations For Tom Aspinall Fight

A UFC veteran advises Jon Jones to exercise caution in his negotiations with the UFC for a PPV title fight with Tom Aspinall.

UFC Legend Warns Jon Jones on Not Going Overboard in Negotiations For Tom Aspinall Fight

Is Jon Jones pricing himself out of a Tom Aspinall fight? (Source: X/IMAGO)

While he has but two ballot appearances as a UFC Heavyweight, Jon Jones is enviable with his hold. However, that has limited his chances of risking it and left interim champion Tom Aspinall out to dry. The division is currently jammed up at the top with no concrete evidence that Jones would opt for PPV title unification.

However, while he is the consensus GOAT fighter, that status quo won’t stay forever. During a Bangtao Muay Thai MMA Q&A, “Bones” said he and Aspinall were close to bringing it home. But Tom Aspinall has readily refuted that and said he is moving on to other things.

‘Bad Guy’ Chael Sonnen recently told Uncrowned Combat that Jon Jones was never a big PPV sales or perpetuity royalty merch draw like Conor McGregor was. He has taken 2-3 years out in prep more than once. With Aspinall dumbing down his fight update, that status is dwindling further. Now, UFC legend Matt Brown has presented that a fighter can maintain only so much hold in a position like Jones.

We also know the UFC is going to smash records without him. But I guess it kind of depends on what kind of power the UFC will allow Jon to have…At the same time, they know if Jon just says ‘f*ck you’ and walks away, they’ll build up somebody. They’ll make Ciryl Gane look like the fu*king boogeyman of the east or some shit. We’ve seen this story before. It goes on. It goes forward. The heavyweight division just happens to be slimmer pickings.

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There was a rumored $30 million in PPV monetary compensation for title unification that Sonnen and his ESPN ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’ podcast Co-host Daniel Cormier debunked to be far from true and bankable. Jones boasts only two appearances at heavyweight over five years, where he took three years out just to make that shift. Whereas, Tom Aspinall is the official longest-reigning interim champ and has even logged a rare PPV interim title defense.

Jones himself also asked six months out for a camp prep, and this particular notion gained positive traction in the fight community, given that he is a proper tactician, and Aspinall is a prime challenge. Per statleaders.ufc.com (UFC Record books), Aspinall averages the least bottom time and is a potent first-frame finisher; a proper test to Jon Jones’ longevity at 265 pounds.

While Brown, like many others, agreed this is the biggest bankable PPV super fight to be made at heavyweight, it’s going stale, and fast. Jones might be pricing himself out of it as a whole, given there’s a global petition to commission officials to strip him, and UFC has prime events in the pipeline without him.

UFC Paris announced for September, fuelling up Tom Aspinall return rumor, and no PPV unifier vs. Bones

Digits matter, and they don’t lie; UFC fans have awaited a Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones PPV heavyweight title unification for months now. That’d be a dragged-up seven months since Aspinall’s first-round TKO over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 last year, which proved he is a beast at HW, and a Jones challenge needed to happen. It’d also be three months downwind of Jones defeating Stipe Miocic via third-round TKO in a rare elusive sighting.

UFC has new bouts in the pipeline that could sway from Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones scrap
UFC has new bouts in the pipeline that could sway from Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones scrap (Source: X)

Those digits now also include 181,772+ signatures (and counting) at change.org to strip Jon Jones from stalling out this fight. Digits don’t lie; one more digit that is now a humdrum barrage in way of a Jones vs. Aspinall fight is September 6th!

The UFC is returning to Paris on September 6, and it fuels up Aspinall’s teases that he has a new date. While it hardly stands to have any value for a substitute straphanger matchup at a “Fight Night” card on ESPN+, the fight community is enraged. Ciryl Gane is a prime draw for a France affair, and his name has been drawn up more than once in a possible booking against Tom Aspinall.

Aspinall provided that he has a date and location. If not the September 6th card at Accor Arena, it could be something in the vicinity. There are other viable candidates in the heavyweight roster, and UFC Paris might be a top contender scrap to decide who faces Aspinall if Jones does not answer the call. He has been more than eager for a legacy retirement and to hang up his stake on the undisputed gold. For now, there are more questions than answers.

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