Jon Jones doesn’t owe anybody anything, says a former UFC title challenger.
The UFC Heavyweight Champion is enjoying life in Thailand while interim titleholder and #1 contender Tom Aspinall has been campaigning for a title unification bout for nearly 600 days now.
Jon Jones, arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, isn’t too worried about being stripped of his title as more than 50,000 fans have signed a petition for the UFC to do so.
Former UFC champion Michael Bisping recently urged Jones to ‘defend or vacate’ the heavyweight title, saying Jones has an obligation to fight the younger Aspinall just as then champion Mauricio Rua did against a 23-year-old Jones in 2011.
This seems to be an ongoing narrative between Jones and Aspinall—one not everybody is buying into.
Kenny Florian says Jon Jones doesn’t owe Tom Aspinall a fight at this point of his career
Two-time UFC title challenger Kenny Florian has weighed in on the Jones-Aspinall saga, stating the youngest champion in UFC history doesn’t owe anybody a fight.
“I’ve heard other people say that Jon Jones needs to give Tom Aspinall his chance just like Jon Jones got a chance,” Florian said on the Anik & Florian Podcast.
“First of all, he fought Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua when ‘Shogun’ was 29 years old. He was not given anything by Shogun. This was not a fight at the end of his career.
“Perhaps it wasn’t Shogun at his peak like when he was in 2005, but still, he was 29 years old. This wasn’t a washed up champion, late in his thirties, early forties where it was like, oh, Shogun owes Jon Jones this young up-and-comer [a fight].
“Nobody owes anybody anything,” Florian continued.
“For Jon Jones, he does care about his legacy. How many champions, how many former champions have we seen stick around the sport for too long? Did they owe those people? Are they proud that they owed the UFC or the fans anything?
“The fans are gonna dictate a lot of what happens with these fights. Obviously, they’re the lifeblood, they’re the reason why there’s so much money behind these fights. But for a professional athlete, they really don’t owe anybody anything.”
Kenny Florian thinks Jon Jones wants Tom Aspinall to fight someone else to gather ‘more intel’
Speaking on why Jones hasn’t lined up a fight with Aspinall yet, Florian theorizes the legendary tactician wants more film on Aspinall before he fights him.
“I also think he kinda wants to force Tom Aspinall into one more fight prior to him fighting him,” Florian said.
“Because here’s the thing: As good as Tom Aspinall is, I would argue we still don’t know so much about him. Why? Because he just thrashes people within a few minutes, and we still don’t know how good he is.
“So, I think he wants him to have some kind of a tough fight for more intel, and I think he wants to have a little bit more wear on those bones of Tom Aspinall as well.”
Aspinall currently holds the shortest average fight time (2:02) in the UFC at nine fights. Aspinall has finished all eight of his UFC opponents, including seven in the first round.