After a long and frustrating wait, Tom Aspinall’s prediction has finally come true.
Dana White announced that Aspinall is now the undisputed champion after confirming Jon Jones’ retirement.
The UFC CEO had previously revealed a deadline to try and make the heavyweight title unification bout happen with White stating that the promotion will move on if they couldn’t get it done.
Aspinall reacted to the news by stating that he hopes to make the division active again, after this recent update wasn’t surprising to him.
The Brit has been targeting new opponents for some time and even before the title was last defended, he was convinced that ‘Bones’ wouldn’t step inside the Octagon with him.
- READ MORE: ‘Is he scared?’… Daniel Cormier calls Jon Jones a quitter for retiring to avoid Tom Aspinall fight
Fans praise Tom Aspinall after clip of him predicting that Jon Jones would retire before fighting him resurfaces
During an appearance on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast in August of 2024, Tom Aspinall joined the show to talk about his successful interim title defense at UFC 304 and Jon Jones’ upcoming fight with Stipe Miocic.
He stated during the podcast, several months before Jones competed inside the Octagon for one last time, that the consensus greatest of all time would retire before fighting him.
The clip resurfaced on social media following Dana White’s major announcement during the UFC Baku post-fight press conference.
“Since I won that fight, he’s gone completely quiet and he’ll continue to go completely quiet about me until he retires because there’s no way on earth that he’s gonna fight me. Not a chance. I will retire Jon Jones without even fighting him.”
While Aspinall would have obviously preferred to have faced Jones to unify the heavyweight titles, it’s clear that he made his mind up some time ago that this ship had sailed.
Fans reacted to the 10-month-old clip via social media now that the Brit’s prediction has been proven to be correct.
‘This aged well’
‘As the prophecy foretold by the champion himself!’
‘That’s so cold icl’
‘Tom Aspinall is the most vindicated man on earth’
‘The man actually did it’
‘Bro’s from the future’
Tom Aspinall stated earlier this week that he had already started training for new opponents
Waiting for Jon Jones’ decision has been a frustrating time for Tom Aspinall, who would have preferred to stay active by facing other contenders.
The new undisputed champion wrote in the comment section of an Instagram post that he had moved on from the Jones fight by trying to prepare for the other top names in the division.
“I’m training for (Alexander) Volkov and (Jailton) Almeida this week.”
It isn’t clear who Aspinall will face in his first defense of the undisputed title but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him try and get a fight on the next available PPV card.