Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall are set to unify the UFC heavyweight division in 2025.
‘Bones’ is fresh off a third-round knockout win over former two-time champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November.
After that, talk immediately turned to a unification clash with Tom Aspinall, who claimed an interim title during his spectacular run through the division, which included quick stoppage wins over Curtis Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich, and Alexander Volkov.
Dana White is currently working away behind the scenes to make what he believes could be the biggest fight in UFC history, and MMA fans are impatiently waiting for an official announcement.
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Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall predicted by UFC 5 simulation
One UFC fan couldn’t wait to see how Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall plays out in 2025, so they’ve used the EA Sports video game ‘UFC 5’ to get an early prediction for the fight.
A YouTuber matched the heavyweight duo together and simulated the five-round affair.
As he often does, Aspinall scored an early knockdown in the AI simulation of his fight with Jones. The Englishman followed up with nasty ground strikes but was unable to finish the fight, which quickly became a grappling match.
Aspinall tried for various submissions before making the mistake of dropping to his back for a triangle choke attempt that allowed his opponent to ride out round one in top position.
The second stanza was a big one for Jones. The greatest fighter of all time was able to dominate with his wrestling, but he didn’t come close to finding a finish on the floor.
Round three was super competitive. Jones once again dominated on the floor, while Aspinall looked the stronger striker, despite nursing a nasty eye injury that caught the attention of the UFC 5 commentators.
Roles reversed in the fourth frame. Jones landed consistently on the feet, but he spent much of the five minutes on his back fending off submission attempts from the BJJ Black Belt.
Jones wobbled Aspinall upstairs before dropping him with a body shot at the start of round five. The American followed his man to the floor but ended up getting reversed as he tried to close the show.
When the fight returned to the feet with 90 seconds left on the clock, veteran referee Herb Dean stepped in to get the cageside doctor to take a look at Aspinall’s right eye.
It was completely swollen shut, so the fight was waved off and Jones claimed a fifth-round TKO victory courtesy of a controversial intervention from the UFC doctor.
Dana White guarantees heavyweight unification fight in 2025
Jones has been honest about his aversion to fighting Aspinall. The 37-year-old fight icon would prefer to face light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira instead – but the UFC bosses have no interest in making that matchup right now.
Dana White recently guaranteed that Jones will fight Aspinall at some point next year.
“100 percent,” he said during a recent press conference when asked if the heavyweight unification bout is the biggest he can make in 2025. “I think it’s probably the biggest fight in heavyweight history and it’s a massive fight in the history of the company, too. It’s a big fight.”
The reporter pointed out that Jones has been ‘on the fence’ about fighting Aspinall before White interjected to provide a promising negotiations update.
He added: “It’s weird. Let me tell you what’s weird about that. So, usually, those guys say that s*** behind the scenes and not publicly. Jon says that s*** publicly and not behind the scenes.
“Jon is a very unique individual to deal with. From day one, I’ve been confident that Jon Jones would do that fight. Even before [UFC 309] I said, ‘If he won, there’s no way Jon doesn’t do the fight’.
“Jon Jones isn’t afraid to fight anybody, and that’s a fact. The only time that anything remotely weird has ever happened with Jon Jones is the time his f***ing camp did the weird Chael Sonnen thing. ‘We can’t fight Chael Sonnen on short notice’.
“And that wasn’t him, it was his team, and he listened to his team for whatever reason. But that’s like the goofiest f***ing move in UFC history. Other than that, Jon Jones behind the scenes is not a guy who turns down fights.”
“I’ll say 100 percent [the fight will happen].”
- READ MORE: Jon Jones details five-year plan as he eyes two more UFC wins before dramatic career change