Unless Jon Jones is bluffing or he loses to Stipe Miocic on November 16 in the main event of UFC 309 in Madison Square Garden, Tom Aspinall will be the interim champion for a long time.
Jon Jones spoke with longtime combat sports reporter Kevin Iole on Thursday and made it clear that he has no plans to fight Aspinall after Miocic, assuming he wins. Iole asked Jones if he would defend his belt against Aspinall.
“More than likely not,” Jon Jones said. “I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don’t want to say nobody, but he just hasn’t proven anything. He hasn’t done anything. I understand he won his belt against Sergei, and Sergei just got slaughtered by someone else, so it’s like, I’m not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me. I’m here to compete against the guys where when we look back, you know, 10 years from now, you’ll be like, ‘Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy, this legend, and that champion and this champion,'”
Jon Jones says he will “probably not” defend his title against Tom Aspinall if he beats Stipe Miocic at #UFC309
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 7, 2024
He also says if he fights again after Stipe, it will probably be against Alex Pereira
🎥 @KevinI #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/kIwVHdatJt
If the first part of Jon Jones’ answer wasn’t enough to make Aspinall’s blood boil, the last section likely landed even harder. Jones said that if there were a fighter on the current roster who made sense for him to fight, it would be UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
The two men are almost the same age, and Pereira has elevated himself to legendary status.
“We’re both 37 years old,” Jones said. “Right now, I weigh about 235. I’m an incredibly light heavyweight. I think Pereira walks around at 240. I think that fight would go much farther on my legacy than a young man who’s cool today, and may be gone tomorrow. I remember a time when the whole world thought Johnny Walker was going to be the guy to beat me. No disrespect to Johnny Walker, but we have all seen how his career has played out. I’ve just been here too long to get all excited about someone who is hot today. I’m here for legacy. I’ve been gambling way too long just to take random fights.”
In many ways, Jon Jones’ approach toward Aspinall is not much different than Terence Crawford’s handling of the Jaron “Boots” Ennis challenge. Crawford could fight Boots, but the two men are at different points in their careers.
Crawford and Jones want to take on legacy fights that bring a sizable payday in exchange for their efforts. Both men are looking closely at their professional mortality and measuring each of what they know is their final steps in their respective combat sports. Like Crawford, who has chased a fight with Canelo Alvarez, Jones isn’t ducking all the smoke.
He wants a fight with Pereira, which isn’t the easiest assignment on paper. It’s also likely a bigger commercial fight for the UFC. If it takes place at heavyweight, Pereira can make history by becoming the only three-division champion. If Pereira loses, he’s still the champion at 205 pounds–unless he falls to Magomed Ankalaev before he gets to the superfight with Jones.
Because of the plausibility of the Jon Jones-Alex Pereira clash, the money that can be made from it, and the sway the former may have at this stage of his career, Aspinall may have to accept that he’ll never get the opportunity to face and defeat the man he’s been chasing for nearly a year.