The Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall situation has been a focal point in the UFC heavyweight division since 2023. Jones won the undisputed heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. After he won the title, Jones was supposed to defend his title against Stipe Moicic at UFC 295, but it was delayed due to Jones’ pectoral injury. Meanwhile, Tom Aspinall claimed the interim heavyweight title with a 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November 2023. Aspinall would later go on to defend his interim belt against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, securing another first round knockout. Jones returned at UFC 309 and defeated Stipe Moicic, but no unification fight with Aspinall has been scheduled even as we’re in the middle of 2025, despite Dana White’s claims that the fight would happen in 2025.
Since then, tensions have escalated as Jones and Aspinall have continued to wage a war of word on social media. Jones has publicly made it know that he was interest in a legacy fight against Alex Pereira and has demanded a huge purse if he has to take on Tom Aspinall. Aspinall has voiced his frustration over the situation, accusing Jones of stalling the heavyweight division and mocking him with a duck toy at past UFC events. While Jones has continued to enjoy his vacation at Thailand, a petition at Change.org has collected over 150k signature to strip Jones of his heavyweight belt. Rumors has it that the fight will happen sometime in December of 2025, however, there’s still a lot of time left and anything could go down while we wait.
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In the Good Guy/Bad Guy show, Daniel Cormier had an interesting idea about what the UFC could do with the whole Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones situation. DC claimed if the No.2 contender in the heavyweight division, Ciryl Gane, were to take on Tom Aspinall and beat him, Jones would probably never have to fight Aspinall. Jon Jones made Gane tap out at UFC 285 in the very first round, and if Gane were to take on Aspinall and beat him, that would technically protect Jones’ legacy.
“If Ciryl beats Tom Aspinall then Jones can go: ‘Look, look what happened. Why would you think that? That kid could have beat me? Cyril beat him. Right, so that would be like… Chael that might actually help him.”
Chael Sonnen immediately responded, “That’s what I just said. Is this on (pointing at the mic)? Are you listening? That’s what I just said… You knew I said that but you weren’t listening. I just caught you not listening,” sarcastically calling out Cormier for stealing his words.
While Cormier claimed that he was listening, he said that a “light bulb went on my head.” Sonnen hilariously replied, “Yeah, you had the idea as soon as I had it. As soon as it came out of my mouth… I just said this, I literally just said this. Word for word.”
When the video was rewound, what Sonnen claimed was the truth, as he had initially came up with the idea of Gane fighting Tom Aspinall, and Jones just waiting it all out. However, it looked liked Daniel Cormier was not focused at all, and was looking down possibly doing something else when Sonnen suggested the Aspinall vs. Gane bout. Some fans even added that Cormier could have been ordering Popeye’s chicken which made the post even funnier than it was.
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