Jon Jones’ reign as UFC heavyweight champion continues to dominate the MMA discourse.
Jones has defended the heavyweight title just once in the two years he has held it. That came under controversial circumstances, with ‘Bones’ getting criticized for fighting Stipe Miocic over interim champion Tom Aspinall.
But despite the Miocic bout being months in the past, Jones continues to dismiss Aspinall and their long-awaited unification showdown.
That’s led furious fans to demand that Jones either fights Aspinall or gives up the heavyweight championship.
Amanda Nunes gives her take on calls to strip Jon Jones of the UFC heavyweight title
Former two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes is in New Jersey for Saturday’s UFC 316 event.
There, Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison will fight for the women’s bantamweight title. Either Pena or Harrison will be Nunes’ comeback opponent, by all accounts.
‘The Lioness’ surprisingly chose to walk away from her reign as a ‘champ-champ’ after defending the 135-pound title against Irene Aldana in June 2023.
Many were quick to predict a return from retirement, and the wheels are now in motion for that to come to fruition in 2025.
Speaking during a UFC fan Q&A in Newark, Nunes was asked whether Jones should be stripped of the heavyweight title.
The Brazilian cited her personal experience of walking away from UFC gold while deciding her future, advising Jones to do the same.
“You know, I would take that for me too. If I didn’t retire, I would have stopped the division,” Nunes said. “I could have stayed, but I wouldn’t have been able to fight.
“I would have been a year-and-a-half waiting for the belt and the girls would have been like waiting for me until I had the answers. So I just retired.
“I know I can get the belt back whenever I want, and I just retired and then come back later,” Nunes added. “Maybe he (Jones) can (lose) that belt and then see what happens later.”
- READ MORE: Israel Adesanya uses inside insight to share bold Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley prediction
Petition for UFC to strip Jon Jones surpasses 185,000 signatures
A few weeks on from its creation, the fan petition calling for the UFC to remove Jones from the heavyweight throne continues to amass an eye-opening number of supporters.
After around 20,000 in the first week, the petition has since soared past milestone after milestone. It most recently moved beyond 185,000 signatures and looks set to hit 200,000 soon enough.
“Jon Jones is now the longest reigning champion in UFC heavyweight history and has only fought 2 times in that period,” the petition’s ‘issue’ section reads.
“There is a clear interim champion, Tom Aspinall, who has defended his interim championship belt. Aspinall is ready to fight Jones. Jones refuses to fight him.
“Therefore, we as fans must let Dana White know: It is time to strip Jon Jones of the heavyweight title. He clearly has no intentions of fighting anytime soon.”
Jones has attempted to laugh off the petition online, insisting he couldn’t care less about calls for him to be stripped given past instances of him dropping the UFC light heavyweight belt.
The fate of the UFC heavyweight title remains unconfirmed, but Aspinall’s latest insistence that Jones has retired would appear to suggest the chances of his “dream” fight against the champion are slimming with each day that passes.