UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is coming back to the octagon this year, and may never leave if he doesn’t get one particular fight.
The legendary former light-heavyweight champion hasn’t fought since March of last year after suffering a shoulder injury in camp for UFC 295, but is expected back soon after fully recovering. He is expected to face fellow icon Stipe Miocic, who is considered the greatest heavyweight of all time.
But with Miocic out of action since losing his title to Francis Ngannou in 2021, a win over him at this stage of his career would do little to truly enhance Jones’ legacy. Many fans believe that the only way to legitimise himself as a two-division great, he would need to beat interim champion Tom Aspinall.
Jon Jones announces return to training after lengthy absence
It was last October when Jones was forced out of his UFC 295 headliner with Miocic at Madison Square Garden with a torn pectoral muscle. While getting surgery for that injury he also had a lingering shoulder issue fixed which required further rehabilitation.
Yesterday, Jones took to social media to share a picture of himself with a group of training partners. He is expected to reschedule his meeting with Miocic before eventually making his way to a fight with Aspinall, although the Brit is unsure if that will ever actually happen.
Jones captioned his social media post: First day back in the gym since my injury, felt amazing. And so it began.”
Tom Aspinall fears Jon Jones has no interest in title unification
While the dream fight for many MMA fans is a bout to unify the heavyweight division between Jones and Aspinall, the 14-3 interim champion doesn’t believe there is interest on his rival’s end. The pair recently went face-to-face at an event in the UK, but the UFC legend refused a staredown when approached.
“I wanted to face off,” Aspinall said on The MMA Hour. “Jon’s smart… Jon will not say anywhere, you can’t find it, it’s not out there, that he will fight me. He won’t say it anywhere publicly. He won’t say it. You can’t find a clip, a quote, nothing, anywhere, of Jon Jones saying, ‘One day I’m going to fight Tom Aspinall, and I’m going to freaking beat the brakes off him. That’s what I’m going to do.’ That doesn’t exist.
“He doesn’t want any evidence, anywhere, of him agreeing to any kind of fight with me, because he doesn’t want to go back on that. He doesn’t want to do a faceoff because that promotes a potential fight.
“When I ask him, ‘Jon are we going to do this?’ He doesn’t say, ‘Absolutely. Let me get Stipe out of the way and we’ll do it.’ He’ll instead say, ‘Oh, maybe one day.’ Because he doesn’t want that quote of, ‘We’re going to fight one day.’ It’s super smart.”
UFC legend Chael Sonnen believes Jon Jones won’t retire until he fights Tom Aspinall
But a former opponent of Jones disagrees with Aspinall’s take, and reckons that his work won’t be fully done at heavyweight until he has beaten the Brit. Chael Sonnen fought Jones during the pair’s light-heavyweight days at UFC 159 and believes that he will want to prove himself against the new generation.
“I, Chael Sonnen, do not believe Jon Jones is going to go anywhere until he handles one final piece of business which will be against Tom Aspinall,” he told fans in a video on his YouTube channel today, before noting that if Aspinall were to lose to Ciryl Gane in the meantime that it could be the end of Jones’ career.
Jones won his heavyweight belt from Gane with relative ease within the first round of their fight at UFC 285 last year. He is unlikely to stick around into his late thirties for an opponent he has already submitted quickly, meaning that Aspinall is the last big challenge at the weight.
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