Jon Jones drops the microphone: “You can’t strip a guy like me”, the bones apparently leave the UFC heavyweight title
The post Jon Jones drops the microphone: “You cannot strip a guy like me”, the bones apparently leave the UFC heavyweight title appeared first on the clutch points.
The UFC heavy goods vehicle division has been in an animation state suspended for more than a year, with fans, fighters and analysts all ask the same question: when Jon Jones finally defends his title against the acting champion Tom Aspinall? Now, in an announcement on bombs’ social networks, Jones said that he “would abandon the belt freely”, signaling the end of a reign defined as much by inactivity and controversy as by domination and heritage.
The tweet heard “around the world of MMA”
Late Thursday evening, Jon Jones went to X with a post which was a confession, a provocation and an auto-mythize in equal parts. Responding to assembly calls to be stripped of the UFC heavyweight championship, Jones wrote:
The message was as clear as it is provocative: Jones does not wait to be stripped; He moves away according to his own conditions.
Advertisement
Jones’ last declaration comes after months of growing disorders in the MMA community. Fans have started petitions, one collecting more than 200,000 signatures, demanding the Jones UFC band from its title due to inactivity and reluctance to face Aspinall. The interim champion, on the other hand, was left in the limbo, establishing an unwanted UFC record for the longest provisional reign in history, more than 530 days and cash.
Aspinall, who finished his eight UFC victories and avenged his only defeat in a spectacular way, has publicly lost hope of facing Jones and is now focusing on the fighting twice this year, that the indisputable belt be at stake. The division, like Jones himself, was “slowed down”, with the suitors and fans frustrated by the lack of clarity at the top.
A man or master manipulator?
In his tweet, Jones withdrew the curtain from the commercial side of his championship mandate. He admitted that he “played the role of the man of the company by doing nothing at all”, suggesting that his presence continues as a champion concerned the marketing interests of the UFC than the competitive merit. He even boasted of earning more money on the provisional status of Aspinall than Aspinall himself, a statement that will probably sting for the British and the fans who claimed a unification fight.
The Jones franchise is striking, but this also raises uncomfortable questions about the UFC management of its heavyweight division. Was the promotion accomplice to keep Jones as a champion for the sake of power, even though the division stagnated? Did Jones exploited his legendary status to avoid a dangerous match with Aspinall, like many criticisms allege?
Advertisement
The assertion of Jones according to which “you cannot strip a guy like me at this stage – I give the belt freely” is vintage bones, partly bravado, partly the truth. His heritage as a biggest fighter book for the book in the history of MMA is secure in the eyes of many, with championship reigns both with light heavy goods vehicles and victories on a Who’s Who of Sport. However, the way he comes out of the division, without facing Aspinall, will leave a sour taste for some.
Jones himself does not seem disturbed by criticism. “It really has nothing to do with fear,” he told fans, framing his release as the next logical step of an athlete who has already won the sport and is now focusing on the construction of his brand outside the cage. “Many fans and fighters are not used to seeing someone go out in mind as I have it,” he added.
The release of Jon Jones is both a power movement and an admission of defeat
The decision of Jon Jones to leave the title of heavy goods vehicles is a masterclass of narrative control. By “abandoning the belt freely”, it avoids the unworthiness of being stripped and guarantees that it goes to its own conditions. But let’s not be mistaken: it is also a tacit admission that he had no intention of risking his heritage against Tom Aspinall. For all his speeches on “Veni, Vidi, Vici”, the last act of Jones as champion is that of Retreat, no conquest.
Advertisement
The UFC heavyweight division can finally move on. But the question will focus: Jon Jones left as the biggest, or as the champion who refused to fight the best? Only time, and the reign of Tom Aspinall will say.
Related: UFC 316: No trash speeches, no buzz, do UFC press conferences become obsolete?
Related: UFC 316: Can an entirely healed O’malley destroy Dvalishvili or the “Suga Show”?
