Tom Aspinall still believes he could end up fighting Jon Jones at some point.
The newly crowned undisputed UFC heavyweight is currently looking for a new opponent after chasing a fight with the greatest of all time for the past year.
Last weekend, Jones opted to retire, rather than face Tom Aspinall in a highly anticipated unification bout.
It all seems pretty final, but the Englishman believes Jon Jones may return to MMA down the line.
Tom Aspinall anticipates Jon Jones retirement U-turn
Jones is virtually guaranteed an immediate title shot if he ever decides to make a UFC comeback.
For that reason, Aspinall is refusing to totally rule out a fight with the 37-year-old American legend.
“With where he’s at, he can jump the queue anytime he wants,” he said on The Diary Of A CEO podcast.
“A year down the line, we’ll have another three or four contenders knocking on [the door] for a title shot.
“Anytime someone likes him steps up and says, ‘Look, I wanna fight again’. They are gonna get an immediate title shot, so I’m never gonna count that out.”
Aspinall went on to map out a situation where Jones would return for a fight with him.
He added: “I’m in a spot in my career where there’s not all that much footage out there on me.
“Maybe he sees something on me in the next few fights, and he thinks, ‘You know what? I can beat this guy. I’m gonna come back and beat him’.
“Mentally, I’m never counting that out. The fight could always pop back up and come back around on me.
“That’s obviously something that I would accept.”
Tom Aspinall clears up the confusion
Aspinall insists he hasn’t been chasing a fight with Jones for the past year.
All he wanted was to be the undisputed champion, and Jones was the man standing in his way.
“A lot of people get it confused over the last 10 months-ish, [they think] that I was chasing Jon Jones,” Aspinall concluded.
“That was never the case. I was chasing the undisputed heavyweight title.
“If I do get the opportunity to put Jon Jones on my resume, I’ll accept that with open arms, but if not, I’m content.
“I’ll move forward and create my own legacy without him.”