Jon Jones deciding to retire instead of unifying the title against Tom Aspinall has led some to question his legacy.
The former two-division champion had his legacy cemented long before he was in talks to fight the interim champion Tom Aspinall. However, Jon Jones kept Aspinall waiting on the undisputed title for nearly 600 days before finally relinquishing his belt with his retirement decision last weekend.
Instead of fighting the younger Aspinall, Jones’ last UFC fight came against a 42-year-old Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, where he won by third-round TKO.
Despite being arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Jones received criticism for avoiding the Aspinall fight and opting out of a record UFC payday in his final move.
Aljamain Sterling defends Jon Jones’ retirement: ‘You don’t need to fight’
As legendary a fighter as Jones is and has been for the last 15 years, ‘Bones’ was advised to walk away from Aspinall to protect his basically undefeated record (Jones’ only loss is a disqualification).
Jones, 37, isn’t as young as he used to be, and hasn’t been interested in the Aspinall fight from the get-go.
Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling has responded to the narrative Jones has hurt his legacy by not unifying the heavyweight title before he retired.
“I don’t think John’s retiring is a stain on his legacy,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel.
“I know some people are trying to paint that narrative, but how can a guy who’s defended his championship title more than 10 times have a stain on his legacy because he decided to not fight one more time?” Sterling continued.
“If he got hit by a car, knock on wood, and he couldn’t compete for the rest of his life while the negotiations were still being made in the genesis of the negotiations, would people still say this is a stain on his legacy?
“No. So, what the hell is the difference? He doesn’t wanna fight him.
“Now as a selfish fan, the selfish fan in me, I would love to watch Jon Jones fight Tommy Aspinall. Of course, I wanna see Jon Jones fight Tommy Aspinall. It’s a crazy fight.
“But, I gotta be real. I understand the business side of things and the longevity and protecting what you’ve accomplished and created where you’re in a position where you don’t need to fight.”
Jon Jones faced ‘ducking’ accusations after Dominick Reyes fight in 2020
Aspinall isn’t the first fighter Jones has been accused of ‘ducking’ in his 24-fight UFC run.
Before he moved to the heavyweight division, then light heavyweight champion Jones wasn’t all that interested in rematching Dominick Reyes after their fight at UFC 247 in Feb. 2020.
The undefeated Reyes gave Jones one of his toughest fights and controversially lost a unanimous decision to Jones in a fight many, including Dana White, thought Reyes had won.
Jones never fought Reyes again or competed at light heavyweight again, with Reyes losing his next 3 fights by knockout and Jones going on to win the heavyweight title after a three-year layoff.
Many of the comments against Jones read like they do today on a Tom Aspinall post. After narrowly defeating Reyes, Jones initially went after a title fight with Jan Blachowicz in the same month.
“Ducking Reyes,” a comment read.
“This guy is begging not fight Reyes again,” one fan wrote.
“What a coward,” another fan said of Jones.
“What a similar era to the one we’re in now,” a fan said of the Jones-Aspinall saga on X.
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