Jon Jones appears to be laughing off the fact that he was not nominated for a 2025 ‘Best UFC Fighter’ ESPY award.
Legendary two-weight world champion Jones last weekend hung up his gloves, angering fans as he opted against defending his title in a unification bout with interim champ Tom Aspinall. The end of his iconic career came months after his sole heavyweight title defence with Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.
For the past few months, Jones has been teasing his future within the octagon, pushing for fights with seemingly anybody but Aspinall. However, he ultimately settled on an underwhelming retirement, which Dana White announced at the UFC Baku post-fight press conference.
Jon Jones trolls fans after being snubbed for 2025 ESPY nomination
On Thursday evening, the list of nominees for the 2025 ESPY Awards was announced, including the ‘Best UFC Fighter’ category. Islam Makhachev, Dricus Du Plessis, Kayla Harrison and Merab Dvalishvili all made the cut after tremendous years.
Unsurprisingly, Jon Jones did not earn a nomination after just one lacklustre fight against an aging Stipe Miocic after almost two years of inactivity. Aspinall also wasn’t nominated after being able to fight just once while waiting for the title unification.
“What!?” Jones tweeted in a clearly tongue-in-cheek message. “No Bones?!” Fans appeared to not get the joke, mocking him as if he was legitimately angered by not being nominated. “Somebody takes grandpas phone away,” one fan wrote. “It’s getting sad at this point.”
Another added: “Seems they only considered fighters that were active in 2025 for this award,” while one more wrote: “Jon you’re retired stop begging for attention.”
Jon Jones retired from competition after just one heavyweight title defence
Jon Jones never seemed to be too keen on the idea of facing Tom Aspinall, despite Dana White’s insistence that the fight would happen. He reportedly agreed to the fight for a massive record-breaking purse, but later went back on the idea.
Jones had a legendary run at light-heavyweight, hindered only by his own issues outside of the cage with legal problems and failed drug tests. He then spent three years out between 2020 and 2023 in which time he bulked up to heavyweight in order to beat Ciryl Gane and become a two-weight champion.
However, disaster struck when his first defence against Stipe Miocic was cancelled due to a gruesome shoulder injury. In the meantime, Aspinall won interim gold and established himself as the top contender in the division, but Jones never fully acknowledged him as a legitimate potential opponent.