The moment when Tom Aspinall received the acting heavyweight belt on November 11, 2023, after eliminating Sergei Pavlovich at the UFC 295 is when he won the right to challenge the undisputed champion Jon Jones to unify the belts. But since that time, Jones has not been so interested in the obligation.
It can be forgiven not to entertain the fight at the start because it recovered from an injury. But Jones is the reason why there was an interim heavyweight championship fight; He had to withdraw from his defense of the title provided against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 due to a torn pectoral muscle.
Aspinall entered the spot that Jones left the UFC 295 card and finished Pavlovich on a two -week notice. He then successfully defended his temporary belt against Curtis Blaydes in July 2024. Thus, when Jones eliminated Miocic in his return from injury to the UFC 309 in November, a unifying fight between Jones and Aspinall became the only logical step.
However, here we are, almost a year since Aspinall’s last fight, and a unifying fight has not been reserved. The president of the UFC, Dana White, continues to ensure the MMA community that the fight will occur, going so far as to proclaim publicly during the postal conference of the UFC 316 last week that “Jon Jones was offered the agreement and accepted the agreement”.
However, Jones’ social media seems to tell a different story.
Where is the truth? Look back all the speeches, publications on social networks, false and speculation in the past year and decide for yourself.
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Dana White: Jon Jones is not afraid to fight Tom Aspinall
Dana White explains to Stephen A. Smith that Jon Jones never refused a fight and that Jones has no aversion to fight Tom Aspinall.
July 27, 2024: Only 60 seconds after his first defense as an interim UFC heavyweight champion, Aspinall eliminates Blaydes with a strong left hand and a series of ground strikes. He does not waste time addressing the elephant in the room.
“I am the best finisher in the UFC, if I start to make you move the traffic jams, you have finished,” Aspinall told Manchester, England, at UFC 304 during his post-combat interview. “Who wants to see Tom Aspinall against Jon Jones?”
November 7, 2024: Before the Miocic reprogrammed fight, Jones bristles at the idea that he will face Aspinall if he goes beyond Miocic, which implies that Aspinall is not his level of competition.
“I have the impression that Tom Aspinall is – I don’t want to say anyone – but he has proven anything, he did nothing,” said Jones in an interview. “I’m not here to play on someone else who makes me a name.”
Instead, Jones suggests that he could entertain retirement after the fight. He also floats a champion match against the heavyweight champion of the time, Alex Pereira.
“If there was a fight with a guy who is still on our UFC list which was worth it not only, but the inheritance is worth it, it would be Alex Pereira,” said Jones. “I have been just there for too long for too long for someone who is hot today. I’m here for heritage. I have been playing too long to take random fights.”
November 14, 2024: White is not interested in Jones playing an intertwining, saying that if Jones chooses to continue to fight, Aspinall would be his next opponent, not Pereira. “He doesn’t fight Pereira,” said White. “”[Pereira] was an average weight that went to the light truck. It is also a kickboxer which has very, very well in MMA. His struggle is not even close to the level of Jon Jones, and Jon Jones is much larger than him. “”
November 16, 2024: Jones is back in the octagon for the first time in a year and a half and delivers a rotation kick of the round which sends Miocic to the canvas to keep the heavyweight belt.
With Aspinall Cageside, Jones says that he would only fight Aspinall if he had been offered a “very, very high number”.
“I find him boring, and I don’t like him,” said Jones about Aspinall, “and at the end of the day, if I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated – I want to say it, I want” F — You “, honestly.”
November 18, 2024: In an interview on Youtube, Aspinall claims to have started talks with the UFC for his next fight but does not provide any detail. In the same interview, Aspinall says that it is his opinion that Georges St-Pierre is a fighter larger than Jones because “he never failed for the PEDs”. Jones was stripped of his truck title after being tested positive for the Turinabol anabolic steroid in 2017.
0:54
Daniel Cormier: Jon Jones “out of his mind” saying that he had beaten me to heavy goods vehicles
Daniel Cormier refutes Jon Jones say that Jones could have beat him with heavy goods vehicles.
November 24, 2024: In another YouTube video, Jones says that his team is also in negotiations with the UFC, but Jones will not say if Aspinall is the opponent and will not give an index as for a figure in dollars he requests. He will only say that a return to 2025 is “more than likely”.
December 3, 2024: Now four months since his interim defense, Aspinall told ESPN that he is not interested in a long layoff between the fighting. He says that his priority is to become the undisputed heavyweight champion, whether or not he beat Jones to do so.
“Nothing really interests me right now that being the undisputed heavyweight champion in the world. And that should not be against Jon,” said Aspinall. “If Jon wants to abandon the belt and do other things, I agree with that.
December 14, 2024: During a post-combat press conference for a UFC combat evening in Tampa, Florida, White is asked if he will guarantee a fight between Jones and Aspinall. “Yeah, I’m going to say 100%,” he replies.
February 5, 2025: Jones promises his X followers that an announcement arrives.
In 24 hours, I will make a huge ad! # And
– Jonny Meat (@jonnybones) February 5, 2025
February 6, 2025: The next day, in the false ultimate, Jones published a video in which he announces that his next opponent will be … “The American Healthcare System”. The clip is an announcement of the Super Bowl for a non -profit organization targeting the reform of health care.
May 14, 2025: MMA fans are starting to grow, Jones, is not worried about fighting again, which prompted an online petition to “let Dana White know: it is time to strip Jon Jones of the Title of Heavys”. To date, it has nearly 200,000 signatures.
May 19, 2025: During his stay in Thailand to train Nate Diaz in a reality TV combat show entitled “Alf Global Reality”, Jones joined the online fans who accuse him of having sucked Aspinall and calling him to be stripped of his belt. He claims that the UFC is aware of its future plans.
Yall Barkin in the bad tree, I told the UFC my plans a long time ago. I do not know why they have not yet shared them with you guys. https://t.co/sb4gpaqlzu
– Jonny Meat (@jonnybones) May 19, 2025
I don’t know if I want to call him retired, I feel like I always have the ability to go out and show them. I have had many breaks throughout my career, my identity outside the fighting is very intact. I really appreciate life, I grow up in different ways. https://t.co/xuh1diqvr1
– Jonny Meat (@jonnybones) May 21, 2025
May 26, 2025: This time, it is the Tour of the Aspinall to embark on the excitement of the announcement. He published the message “Hourdeweight News. To come” soon “to his Instagram but quickly reminds his supporters that the UFC generally announces official matches, not the fighters.
May 28, 2025: Despite its warnings, fans are not satisfied with another red herring when Aspinall’s announcement is a brand partnership with the champion of the sports company.
June 2, 2025: Aspinall said to Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier on the Podcast “Good Guy / Bad Guy” that he is ready to go from “retired” Jon Jones.
“Jon Jones is retired,” said Aspinall. “I mean that God bless him to go ahead in what he does with his life and his career. We continue.
June 6: Jones spends more time responding to articles on X, affirming, among other things, that he does not train, he would leave the belt and he would say a fight with the heavyweight champion of the PFL 2024 Francis Ngannou.
And remember, you can’t strip a guy like me at this stage, I give the belt freely. Veni, vidi, vici. 😘
– Jonny Meat (@jonnybones) June 6, 2025
I hear Francis Ngannou still interested … now we are talking. It’s a real super fight. A champions confrontation, not just overhaul. He has held the UFC belt, I have been defending mine for more than a decade. Two kings of different roads. Not just a legend in front of a mouth that is hot …
– Jonny Meat (@jonnybones) June 6, 2025
June 7, 2025: For the first time in several months, White reduces the saga of Jones-Aspinall, saying at the press conference after the UFC 316, it was a “fact” that Jones accepted a fight with Aspinall.
“Yeah, I say it from the start, Jon Jones agreed to fight. Jon Jones was offered the agreement and accepted the agreement,” said White. “You heard me for the last long. I said,” I guarantee that this fight will occur. “Yes, I said Jon will fight Tom.”
June 13, 2025: Back from filming in Thailand, Jones appeared during a dirty boxing championship event in Miami. A journalist asks if Jones is aware of White’s assertion that Jones agreed to fight Aspinall, to which he replied: “Is it what he said?”
