NEW YORK – To the fans who keep clamoring for UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones to fight Tom Aspinall because Aspinall is the interim champ, he hears you. He’s just not going to listen.
Of course, Jones first has to retain his belt this Saturday when he meets former champ Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event at Madison Square Garden. The odds suggest that shouldn’t be a problem as Jones is a roughly 6-1 favorite to beat 42-year-old Miocic coming off a three-and-a-half-year layoff, and that’s why everyone is looking ahead.
Under normal circumstances, Jones already would be unifying the title with Aspinall this weekend, but legacy is what matters most to Jones at this stage of his career, hence why he stuck with a title defense against Miocic, who’s widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight of all time, that was supposed to happen a year ago. On top of that, Jones has made it clear that if he doesn’t retire after UFC 309, he wants what he views as another legacy fight against fellow UFC two-division champ Alex Pereira.
It’s prompted fans to criticize Jones for “ducking” Aspinall, some of whom he’s responded to on social media in recent days. When the topic was broached Wednesday during UFC 309 media day, Jones used the platform to vehemently defend himself and explain, in great detail, why fans have it all wrong.
“I feel like narratives have been created that just truly aren’t there. You can’t duck a man that you were never scheduled to fight,” Jones told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “It’s like saying you got turned down by a girl when you never even hit on her. You know what I’m saying? Me and Dana (White) and Hunter (Campbell) have never sat down and talked about Tom Aspinall. He’s never been on my radar. I mean, just a moment ago it was him and Sergei (Pavlovich) that was fighting (for the interim title at UFC 295). Sergei could be in this position right now, and I would still be in the same place of – I’ve beat people my whole career. And once I beat them, the show just goes on. The French fans were just all over my case, and I just beat their gu (Ciryl Gane at UFC 285). I find myself constantly in the same position of, ‘Oh wow, he just beat another guy. What’s next?’ When I beat Glover Teixeira, he was on a 20-fight winning streak. You beat Glover and then everything just moves on.
“I get that Tom is an exciting fighter. I get that finally, after 16 years, we’ve found somebody who’s seven years younger than me and 30 pounds bigger than me. Like, we’ve finally found someone who may give me a great challenge, and everyone wants to see it so bad. But for me, what’s in it for me? He changes nothing if I beat him. Beating Tom is just like beating Ciryl Gane. He has a whole country behind him; he’s hot right now. What happens to me after I beat him? Nothing changes for me. So, I’m not ducking Tom Aspinall. If I failed to fight Stipe, I would be ducking Stipe because we contractually have been signed up to fight over a year ago. This is Stipe’s position. The Tom narrative came out of nowhere. He won a belt, and now suddenly I’m ducking him. I’ve never even had negotiations to fight him, if this makes sense. So the fans are just ignoring it. They’re ignoring all logic, and they just have finally found someone who they think can compete with me, and everyone wants to see it now.”
What if the UFC wants Jones vs. Aspinall?
If Jones defeats Miocic as expected, the situation will get real and the question will be: What do Dana White and the UFC brass want? What if they want the titles unified and they throw enough money at Jones? Could that do the trick?
Jones appears to be dug in on his position no matter what.
“He does nothing for me. If you’re a person that wants to see me really challenged, then I get it. Like I said, seven years younger, like 35 pounds bigger than me, right? I get it. ‘Jon is so good, we finally found someone way younger and way bigger than him. Let’s see how he does against that.’ I get that narrative,” Jones said. “But for me, if you were my manager, if you were on my team, why not fight against Pereira? A guy who’s the same age as you, and we walk around the same exact size. Now, I had to eat a big breakfast because I’m getting underneath 235 (pounds). Pereira walks around at like 240, and he has magnificent accolades. Business-wise, it makes more sense.
“Fight the nobody that may be more dangerous, or fight the guy with all the accolades, who’s incredibly dangerous but actually will affect your legacy? Me beating Ciryl Gane didn’t change anything for me, just gave me a few more millions. And it would be the same for Tom Aspinall whereas, when you look back, ‘Jon just beat Alex Pereira,’ it’s bigger. It’s just bigger. And anybody who can’t understand that logic simply doesn’t want to.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.