Fans are growing increasingly frustrated by the UFC heavyweight title picture.
A unification fight between the promotion’s two champions, Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, has been on the table since before 2025 began.
‘Bones’ recently explained why he has no interest in facing the UFC interim titleholder before calling for a fight with Francis Ngannou.
This came as a petition calling for him to be stripped of his heavyweight championship obtained more than 193,000 signatures.
- READ MORE: Who is Jon Jones? Inside the life and career of one of the greatest UFC fighters in history
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach explains UFC dilemma
Renowned MMA coach Javier Mendez has shared his thoughts on the heavyweight situation.
The American Kickboxing Academy founder, who has helped Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Daniel Cormier, and more fighters realize their world-champion dreams, thinks he knows why the UFC won’t strip Jon Jones.
“There will come a point where the UFC says, ‘You are gonna fight or we are gonna strip’. They’ll call the shots when they want to call the shots,” Mendez said on his podcast.
“In the meantime, as long as they know they are working to that goal of matching those two guys, they’ll keep holding on.
“They don’t want to strip Jon because if they strip him, they have lost that opportunity.
“If they continue to keep playing and the media keeps playing, that fight gets built, built, built.
“It’s a good play on both sides, to be honest with you.”
Dana White plays down viral petition
Dana White’s reaction to the viral petition backs up Javier Mendez’s views on the situation.
The UFC CEO appears to have no interest in stripping Jones, despite what almost 200,000 fans think.
“Yeah,” White said when asked if he’d seen the viral petition following UFC 316.
“Every human on Earth was DM’ing it to me.
“How many fans are there worldwide now, what’s the number?
“Like 400 million and 130,000 people want to see him stripped.
“It’s kind of f—— silly.”