The final months of Jon Jones’ UFC career haven’t been the send off that you’d expect for the man that many believe to be the greatest to ever do it.
Even days after the news was made official, Jones is responding to criticism on social media after announcing the end of his run at 37 years old.
Though his greatest rival may have taken back some of his initial comments on Jones’ decision, there are a lot of people who believe that the way ‘Bones’ went out will impact his overall legacy.
Even the UFC themselves came under some fire with Tom Aspinall’s father slating the promotion’s process for announcing that the Brit is now the undisputed champion.
When trying to see the decision from the perspective of the former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, a legend of the sport suggested that Jones’ legacy could have been damaged even further if he had chosen to stick around.
Dan Hardy says Jon Jones could’ve suffered the same fate as Jose Aldo if he chose to fight Tom Aspinall
While Jon Jones will always be remembered for his incredible accomplishments inside the Octagon, there will always be controversy and drama surrounding his legacy.
His decision to retire without fighting Tom Aspinall is only the latest addition to this and for some fans, this may be their lasting memory of his career.
In an interview with Submission Radio, Dan Hardy attempted to view Jones’ retirement through the eyes of the consensus greatest of all time.
He believes that while not fighting Aspinall hasn’t painted Jones in the best light, fighting the interim champion and being stopped in devastating fashion may have had an even bigger impact on his legacy.
To back up this point, Hardy made reference to how Jose Aldo was viewed after the legendary UFC featherweight champion, who is in the conversation for being one of the all-time greats, was knocked out by Conor McGregor in 13 seconds.
“I try and look at it from Jon Jones’ perspective. He achieved so much, right? Why would he then have the lasting memory of his career [be] him getting starched by Tom Aspinall in a round? Unfortunately, you remember what it did to Aldo’s career. A lot of people forgot how awesome Aldo was after the McGregor knockout. It was almost like he was a disposable fighter and I mean I guess that’s the way the sports kind of changed in the last few years”
Jose Aldo’s legendary career also ended in underwhelming fashion
Jose Aldo announced his retirement from MMA following a loss to Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 this past May.
After initially retiring in 2022, the former featherweight champion returned to the Octagon in May of last year for one final run in the bantamweight division.
Though he seemingly had plans to continue for at least a while longer, a second controversial decision loss in a row led to Aldo walking away earlier than expected.
| Jose Aldo’s UFC return opponents | Event | Result |
| Aiemann Zahabi | UFC 315 | Unanimous Decision Loss |
| Mario Bautista | UFC 307 | Split Decision Loss |
| Jonathan Martinez | UFC 301 | Unanimous Decision Win |
Though he was able to bounce back from the loss to Conor McGregor to some degree, suffering such an iconic defeat certainly impacted his stock and the way that fans viewed him for some time.