Jon Jones has been neglecting Tom Aspinall’s callouts for the undisputed heavyweight championship fight for quite some time now. Interestingly, Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen recently opined that ‘Bones’ does have a legitimate reason behind the same. ‘DC’ and ‘The Bad Guy’ appeared on the latest episode of ESPN MMA’s, ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ voicing their support for Jones’s choice of concluding his pre-scheduled bout against Stipe Miocic before locking horns against Aspinall.
The coveted Jones vs. Miocic encounter should have concluded way earlier as Dana White and Co. had scheduled it as the main event of UFC 295. However, Bones was forced to forfeit the fight after sustaining a grueling shoulder injury during the pre-fight training camp. The same UFC 295 main event crowned Aspinall as the interim heavyweight champ, after which he started hunting for a shot at Jones’ undisputed heavyweight gold.
However, the Rochester-based UFC champ never displayed any intention of accepting the UK native’s callouts. Instead, Jones’ ‘X’ updates made it evident that he wanted to get through the Miocic fight first before anything else. It was Sonnen who initially agreed to Jones’ decision, saying:
“Yes. I think that it is [the right decision by Jones to get through the Miocic fight first]. The fight is bigger than I was aware”
Cormier also mirrored Sonnen’s opinion soon after. The former UFC champ-champ revealed that even Miocic is quite eager for the fight to materialize, and it was more sensible for Jones to get it over with before tackling Aspinall.
Well, ‘Bones’ affinity towards concluding the previously scheduled fight is quite understandable. However, a large chunk of UFC fans turned on him after he suggested that he might not face Aspinall even after the Miocic fight.
Jon Jones is showcasing greater affinity towards fighting Alex Pereira than Tom Aspinall
Although ‘Bones’ has yet to respond to Aspinall’s challenge, he has never explicitly expressed his unwillingness to fight the UK native. Still, it seems like Jones might have a different opponent on his mind recently as the 36-year-old posted a poll on X, where he asked his fans to choose between Aspinall and the current UFC light heavyweight champ, Alex Pereira.
Although Aspinall achieved a landslide victory in Jones’ poll, a few other posts from the 36-year-old suggested that he was a lot more interested in fighting ‘Poatan’ than locking horns against Aspinall. This is why only time can reveal Jones’ next opponent following the conclusion of his eagerly awaited fight against Stipe ‘The Silencer’ Miocic.