The situation with Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall has been quite frustrating.
Dana White has been swearing up and down that the superfight between Aspinall and Jones is going to happen, but recent development contradicts that statement.
First, Jones requested six months to prepare for that fight. Mind you, Jones is not dealing with any sort of injury. Then, it seems as if Jones just isn’t interested in fighting Aspinall. The thing is, Tom is currently the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion.
He won the belt at UFC 295 when Jones was forced out of his fight against Stipe Miocic due to injury. Aspinall successfully defended the interim belt against Curtis Blaydes. Jon Jones has only fought once since Aspinall won the belt in 2023, which was against Miocic.
The heavyweight division is on stand still and the situation has gotten so bad that 193,649 fans have signed a petition on change.org for the UFC to strip Jones of the heavyweight title. At the UFC 316 press conference, Dana White ensured that Jones accepted the fight against Aspinall, though pen has yet to be put to paper.
Everyone’s frustrated, including well known rival Daniel Cormier, who didn’t holding back in criticizing the UFC Heavyweight Champion recently.
“All this other stuff that’s going on around the fight, you’re talking about, you’re talking about Francis [Ngannou], you’re talking about Chael,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “You’re talking about all these things and almost ignoring the right thing. The right thing is to go fight this kid and if you beat him, which is a real thing and a real likely scenario, you can then stick it to everybody like you’ve done on so many different occasions and tell them about it. Nothing feels better to a guy like Jon Jones than to be able to beat the guy that you thought was going to get him and then going, ‘What did I say to you?’ It’s sweeter than any title or anything else you can give this man. But he’s got to be willing to take that chance to go and fight this dude."
Cormier can't understand Jones’ hesitation with moving forward with this fight. He knows he would’ve stepped into the octagon against Aspinall if he was in this situation because he’s a fighter, something he feels that Jones is a well.
“We fought them all,” Cormier added. “I can tell you guys on good authority, if I was still fighting today and I was still the heavyweight champion and Tom Aspinall was the No. 1 contender, I would have already fought him. One thousand percent. The mindset that I carried through my fight career, knowing how dangerous, it would have done nothing but excite me to see someone standing across the octagon that could potentially beat me or knock my ass out.
That would have made me train harder, smarter, and be more prepared than I ever could have been. That’s what that would have done to me. What it’s doing to Jon Jones is very disturbing and it’s very hard for me to understand because in my mind this guy’s a fighter because I’ve seen him do it time and time again.”
Just because Dana White said that Jones accepted the fight, doesn’t mean it’ll happen. Of course, everyone could be blowing everything out of proportion and the two sides are finalizing a deal now.
Will we see Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones in 2025? Here’s hoping that’s a yes.