Jon Jones apparently wants an extended training camp to prepare for Tom Aspinall but former foe Daniel Cormier doubts it’s out of fear.
According to prominent MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani, the UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones is asking for six months of prep time for a potential title unification bout with interim champion Tom Aspinall ‘once it is locked in’, which would imply a summer showdown isn’t on the cards.
Despite the many calls for it to happen, the heavyweight title fight has yet to be made official with Jones still in negotiations with the UFC brass and Aspinall ‘bored’ as ever waiting on the sidelines for a date that could possibly never come.
Having won his title in Nov. 2023, Aspinall currently has the second-longest interim title reign in UFC history. Jones has taken his time to unify, instead knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 last November.
- READ MORE: Jon Jones told to ‘vacate’ as Tom Aspinall’s father speaks out on the UFC unification delay
Daniel Cormier says Jon Jones ‘steering’ Tom Aspinall narrative
Details of Jones’ new timeline made known to the public, former rival and fellow two-division champion Daniel Cormier doesn’t buy into the narrative that “Bones” is running away from Aspinall.
In fact, Cormier thinks Jones may be getting a kick from all of this.
“Money’s good,” Cormier said of Jones’ ongoing situation with UFC on his YouTube channel.
“[Jones is like] ‘Even if you bring me the money, the timing is what I need to fight this guy…’ Why?
“Do you think that he’s just kind of steering into this whole, he just doesn’t wanna fight Tom Aspinall thing ’cause Tom Aspinall was celebrating after Pereira lost because he felt like Jon Jones could not use [Alex] Pereira anymore as a crutch to try to make that fight.”
“They need to make this fight,” Cormier said of Jones vs. Aspinall. “I think Jon’s kinda steering into this— I feel like Jon likes to play into people going, ‘He’s afraid of Tom Aspinall, he doesn’t wanna fight Tom Aspinall…'”
Daniel Cormier’s take on Jon Jones: ‘He’ll fight Tom Aspinall’
While Jones and Cormier haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, given their past two fights and the massive promotional build-ups before them, Cormier claimed:
“He’s not afraid of Tom Aspinall. He’ll fight Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said of Jones.
“I think he’s messing around with people, man. I think it’s fun for this dude. This dude made a lot of money and he’s been the champion for so long that he really doesn’t need to fight anybody anymore.”
Arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Jon Jones has cleared generations of light heavyweights in his heyday. Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history at 23 years old with an emphatic win over Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in 2011. Jones is undefeated in title fights, having won the heavyweight belt in 2023 with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane.
Daniel Cormier gave Jon Jones some of his toughest fights in the Octagon with “Bones” considering the former light heavyweight champion to be his greatest rival and motivator following their rematch at UFC 214.
Their series ended at 1-0 (1 NC) for Jones, the TKO win at UFC 214 being overturned to a no contest as a result of a positive drug test for anabolic steroid Turinabol.