Tom Aspinall and JonJon Jones do not share the same opinions.
If the last four days are any indication, the two UFC heavyweight champions have quite different ideas about how they want to spend their 2024. One side consists of Jones, the ailing championship holder who defeated Ciryl Gane in March 2023 to win the title, and who is adamant about facing Stipe Miocic in his first and maybe only title defense after his recuperation later this year. Aspinall, the interim champion, is the opposing force, and he has made it his mission to persuade everyone who will listen that he should face either Jones or Miocic instead of missing the majority of 2024 while the established fighters take care of business.
Who is correct and who is incorrect? The MMA Fighting group presents its arguments. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below and listen to the podcast version of this discussion.
In support of Jon Jones’s fight with Stipe Miocic, Tom Aspinall says, “It’s about who’s the best right now.”
Tom Aspinall gets a response from Jon Jones that reads, “On your resume, I recognize only four of these names.”
In a new video, Tom Aspinall ages and grays while awaiting Jon Jones.
UFC 285: Gane versus Jones
Getty Images via Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Jones, Jon
Damon Martin: To begin with, the UFC should bear some of the blame for this mess as, whether you like it or not, Tom Aspinall is only the interim champion because the company needed to fill the vacuum left by Jon Jones’ injury, which kept him from competing against Stipe Miocic in November. Aspinall, holding onto the championship he won because the UFC wanted to promote a show with two title fights rather than risking refunds for an event at Madison Square Garden, will convince anybody who will listen that he is the best heavyweight in the sport.
UFC 296; what comes next for Leon Edwards; Colby Covington’s performance and prefight banter; the fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis; Stickland’s future; Ian Machado Garry’s remarks; Francis Ngannou’s future; Jake Paul; the UFC heavyweight title; and a host of other topics are all covered by Chael Sonnen.
Given how close Jones was to Miocic’s bout at UFC 295, it seems sense that his tearing of his pectoral muscle occurred at the worst possible time. There weren’t many complaints when that fight was first announced because, in all honesty, there wasn’t a clear-cut favorite, and if there was, his name was Sergei Pavlovich.
After winning six straight fights, Pavlovich was chosen over Aspinall to be the backup at UFC 295 instead. Granted, Aspinall deserves all the credit for seizing the opportunity at short notice and defeating Pavlovich via knockout, but he is by no means the first fighter to win a title just because the UFC needed a competitor for a pay-per-view. When the UFC wanted a headliner and Francis Ngannou, the reigning champion, wasn’t available, Ciryl Gane took similar action, and suddenly an interim belt was introduced.
The same holds true for the following matches: Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway, Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar, and Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis. Oh, and let’s not forget the temporary champs, Ferguson and Colby Covington, who were suddenly stripped of their titles for no apparent reason.
Let’s return to Jones now.
After defeating Gane in a flash to earn the UFC heavyweight title this past March, he turned his focus to a historic matchup with Miocic. Jones wanted to have the opportunity to add the best heavyweight in history to his resume, considering all that he has accomplished.
The UFC has stated that Jones will still get the showdown with Miocic as planned, despite the fact that the injury prevents him from competing until the summer.
Despite an interim title looming, Dana White has persisted in her matchmaking efforts because the UFC recognizes that this bout is greater than anything involving Aspinall. Aspinall should target the UFC instead of Jones if he feels like beating his fists and losing his anger.
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Ask Belal Muhammad what it was like to sit behind Covington at UFC 296 or, even further back, when Johny Hendricks had to wait while Nick Diaz got a shot at Georges St-Pierre despite having just lost to Carlos Condit. That is, even if you just want to tout Aspinall as the top contender and ignore the interim title. Oh, and St-Pierre also leaped ahead of Robert Whittaker to challenge Michael Bisping for the middleweight title after a four-year hiatus and without ever having faced a fight at 185 pounds! Not to be forgotten is Bisping’s defense of that same championship against Dan Henderson, who had lost three of his previous five fights before to earning a title opportunity.
What aspect of these matches is similar to each other? The UFC anticipated more pay-per-view revenue as a result of those fights increasing viewer interest. Say what you will about Miocic following a three-year absence and a defeat, but it’s still simpler to present a strong case for him than with some of the other examples.
That criteria may not be to everyone’s taste, and I’m sure it annoys Aspinall, but that’s just how this beast known as mixed martial arts operates. Aspinall can shout to the rooftops that he deserves to unify the championships, but using the phrase “deserves” in any context related to mixed martial arts should be avoided since it will only make you more crazy.
In the end, Jones can only exert so much influence because the UFC still needs to fulfill his desire, and that genie has already been let out of the bottle. He isn’t doing anything that hasn’t already been done dozens of times before.
Prochazka vs. Pereira, UFC 295
Getty Images/Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC photo
Tom Aspiall
Shaun Al-Shatti: What makes this whole scenario funny, in your opinion? On Tuesday, Jon Jones eventually gave up and said the silent section aloud.
“I’ve got a good life setup for myself. I only need Stipe for my resume; I don’t need anything else from this sport.
The problem is that this game and the contest in general have always been about that. It’s a battle of vanity. straightforward and uncomplicated. One that was determined more by artificially inflating the resume of a fading legend than by merit or star power, so that in ten years, when context and subtleties are forgotten, new fans will consult Wikipedia and reverently hail Jones’ heavyweight reign for taking down one of the most decorated big boys in UFC history. The fact that Miocic, 41, was a retired fighter who hadn’t fought in three years, had been severely knocked out in his previous bout, and had no real bearing on the heavyweight class in 2024, won’t be noted in that record.
Furthermore, what do you know? That’s perfectly OK! More power to Jones if he wants to take on an elderly Miocic in order to wow those who don’t know any better ten years later by calling scoreboard. He’s put in more than enough time and sweat equity to be able to refine his experience at the end of his career. A perfectly good five-round non-title fight between two all-timers to send them into well-earned retirement is Jones vs. Miocic. Hell, Tito Ortiz defeated Chuck Liddell, and it doesn’t matter how he did it according to the records. But when a champion is in the standing and demands to hold a belt hostage, the dynamics of the situation shift.
Since this is exactly what it is. It’s Jones’ legacy and his personal concerns that matter most, but as the keeper of a division, you shouldn’t be digging your heels into quicksand to blatantly handpick a less formidable opponent when there is already an interim champion in place. That’s just not how this is supposed to work. Last November was the window of opportunity to execute this move without disrupting an entire weight class. That opportunity closed — if not permanently, then at least until these titles are complete again — the moment Jones was unable to declare himself the unchallenged champion.
Damon is correct, but, there have been several interim titles in UFC history that have been filled with only this date. Hey, how about we take a peek at what transpired with them?
Almost single interim champion not swept up in the Conor McGregor whirlwind—from Gane to Holloway to Poirier to Gaethje—participated in a unification match after being offered the opportunity, with the exception of Covington, who turned it down due to an injury that resulted in the loss of his title. The only scenario that even slightly resembles what we’re witnessing right now is the Bisping/St-Pierre/Whittaker conundrum from 2017. I’m sorry, but Stipe Miocic does not have nearly the same draw value as Georges St-Pierre, who is still ranked among the top four drawers in MMA history. There is an orders of magnitude bigger difference between a Jones-Miocic and Jones-Aspinall pay-per-view in 2024 than there is between a Bisping-GSP and a Bisping-Whittaker pay-per-view in 2017. These two items are not interchangeable.
The majority of the other things Jones keeps bringing up have no bearing at all on the topic at hand. Consider this little song, which was released in response to a fan’s argument that Jones wasn’t entitled to blame for Aspinall’s frustration over an objectively ridiculous scenario. Let’s scan it rapidly, line by line.
It’s not actually that way, you know.
(It does.)
You can’t show up at thirty years old acting like you’ve been pursuing me your entire life—I was a champion when I was twenty-three.
(Has nothing to do with the dialogue.)
While I have spent my whole career advertising UFC events, I have no idea who 90% of the people on his resume are.
Jones defeated legendary fighters Stephan Bonnar, Jake O’Brien, Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Ryan Bader on his way to earning his first title chance. Let’s go ahead and perform Aspinall: Andrei Arlovski, Serghei Spivac, Alexander Volkov, Marcin Tybura, and Sergei Pavlovich, who filled in for an injured player, may now work together to take on a legendary player. Will we truly behave as though the former is clearly superior to the latter?)
All of this is ultimately meaningless because it is obvious that the UFC decided to squander a year of its interim champion’s prime in order to appease other parties. However, it’s evident from a cursory glance at the court of public opinion that the person who is merely demanding the opportunity he previously won is not the one engaging in bad faith argumentation.