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UFC Champion Jon Jones Facing Backlash For Ducking Fight with Tom Aspinall

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Michael Gallagher | Last updated Nov 17, 2024 11:26 AM ET

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has a resume unlike any the sport of mixed martial arts has ever seen.

He does have a blemish on his 28-1 record, though that one loss came during a December 2009 disqualification against Matt Hammill — a fight that he was dominating at the time — for using 12-6 elbows, which were banned at the time but are now legal.

Aside from that one hiccup, Jones has been straight-up dominant throughout his MMA career. He’s riding a 20-fight unbeaten streak, the longest in UFC history, and he just knocked out who many believe to be the greatest UFC heavyweight champion ever in Stipe Miocic on Saturday night.

And while Jones has made it clear the next fight he wants is UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who some consider to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, UFC president Dana White has shown no interest in making that fight and instead wants Jones to face interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

But during his UFC 309 post-fight press conference, Jones said he doesn’t want to fight Aspinall, who he finds annoying, unless he’s given an exorbitant amount of money to do so, which many fans on social media took as a sign of cowardice.

“SO he 1000% is scared of him then,” one fan wrote.

“He legit thinks he’ll lose to him. Ima be real before the stipe fight I thought it was a 50/50 and I didn’t blame people leaving towards jones. But jones himself is what convinced me that Tom Takes it,” another added.

“You can tell he sees a chance of him losing,” a third fan stated.

“This statement alone quite literally proves he’s scared to fight him,” remarked one user.

“Why does he need this just for Tom and not Alex?? Is it because he knows there’s a huge chance he loses against Tom?? Surely not, right???” another user pointed out.

“Gives you an idea of how threatened Jon is of losing to Tom,” one fan expressed.

Despite Jones’ personal feelings, a title unification fight with Aspinall, who’s the UFC interim heavyweight champion, makes the most logical sense for the company.

Jones has wins over the No. 2- and No. 8-ranked fighters in the division in Cyril Gane and Miocic, respectively, while Aspinall, the top-ranked fighter at heavyweight, boasts wins over the No. 4- and No. 5-ranked fighters in Sergei Pavlovich and Curtis Blaydes, respectively.

While Pereira has expressed vague interest in fighting Jones at some point, having him move up a weight class from 205 pounds to heavyweight, where fighters can range from 206 pounds up to 265 pounds, doesn’t seem like a smart career decision for him right now.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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