While UFC CEO Dana White has primed MMA fans for a long wait before Jon Jones emerges from seclusion with his competitive juices flowing, Tom Aspinall is saying negotiations for a fight with “Bones” are already underway.
Aspinall was in New York City at Madison Square Garden to watch Jon Jones beat Stipe Miocic. Following that fight, Jon said he wasn’t ready to retire quite yet, and if the UFC paid him enough money he might give people the fight they wanted. Aspinall was treated like Voldemort, but we know who he was talking about. And following a 3AM meeting with White, Aspinall left the arena in positive spirits.
He remains that way back home in the U.K. where he did a Q&A on his YouTube channel. When asked about Jones, he made it sound like things were moving.
“Yeah, we’re in negotiations right now,” he said. “That’s the honest answer. So we don’t know when the fight is going to be, but I’ll be ready to go whenever. I’m back in the gym now. I’m back in the gym training, as always. And I’ll be ready to fight when they let me know. Until then, I’ll be improving, I’ll be getting better. So no great rush on that.”
“Obviously, I want to fight as soon as possible. But, right now, we’re just waiting on a date. That’s it.”
That’s good news for everyone, because the UFC heavyweight division is in a terrible state if you take out Jones vs. Aspinall.
“The heavyweight division, the talent pool is a lot smaller than most of the divisions,” Aspinall said when asked about exciting prospects. “Right now there’s not really any guys that I’ve got my eye on coming through that I think, ‘Yeah, he’s going to be really good.’ There’s guys coming through all the time, but right now I only really look at the top ten, top fifteen. So anyone coming through is probably not on my radar just yet.
If Jones’ demands for ‘F— you’ money are too wild, we could end up with Aspinall vs. the winner of Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov at UFC 310. In a separate interview, Tom shared his thoughts on that.
“I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” he told Casino Hawks. “I know they fought before, and it was an absolute stinker — the first one was terrible. Since I fought Volkov, he’s improved a lot. He’s changed his training situation, and Gane has been inactive. Gane seems to fight once a year against opponents who suit him quite well.”
“It’s hard to say; Volkov has been very active. I think he fought four or five times since we fought a couple of years ago, which is a lot for an elite heavyweight. I still think it’s a close fight, though, because I believe Gane is very good and smart, but I think it’ll be a lot closer than the last one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Volkov pulled it off.”
Aspinall has no chance but it’s fucked up to not unify the belts.
Jones is my favorite fighter and in my eyes he’s the GOAT
That being said Aspinall hits like a truck, his hands are the speed of lightweights and he’s never seen a 3rd round in his career
If he catches Jones it’s night night
I pray this fight happens, needs to be booked
My guess is they’re negotiating with him for leverage in other negotiations.
My money would be on Jones.
Jones has the upper hand in my opinion. He has not taken much damage in his career, has been on the main stage for more than a decade, still has all the athleticism needed at heavyweight plus experience that cannot be trained for. Hes battle tested and hasnt ever failed. Also Hes the meanest motherfucker in the UFC.
The longer he waits the more the scales tip towards Aspinall.
Tom has the speed and power to shock the world. But Jones has everything to stay champ.
Fuck it would be funny after all the ducking talk if Jones just decimates him like he did Stipe.
That very well might be his undoing vs Jones.
Jones is gonna punish Aspinall
Fuck yeah. Jon can gloat all he wants if he wins this fight and then retires.
The chances of this happening are extremely low.
Jones ducked Tom for a reason, just like he ducked Franky for a reason.
Its possible. And if it happens I dont think it should be remotely arguable that hes the GOAT, even if he is a shithead.
Yep, thats all the fans are asking for. If Jones legitimately beats him (without controversy/fouling), no one could really argue the GOAT status. People just didn’t like being told that Jones vs Stipe was the best fight to make