SUMMARY
- Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall voiced his disappointment over not having a fight against Jon Jones.
- Jones responded to Aspinall's call-out on X but fans felt that the Heavyweight champion was avoiding a fight.
Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall‘s back-and-forth on social media reached an abrupt end. The UFC Heavyweight champion, Jones, seemed to avoid a fight against the interim Heavyweight champion, according to fans.
A few days ago, Aspinall took to X to express his disappointment about Stipe Miocic receiving a title shot ahead of him. The British fighter admitted that Miocic’s resume was superior to his. However, he explained that UFC has never been about that. Aspinall’s argument was, “Surely if you’re interim champ, your next fight should be to fight for undisputed? Come on.”
Surely if you’re interim champ, your next fight should be to fight for undisputed? Come on
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) January 4, 2024
Aspinall also said he wanted to improve his resume by fighting Jones. The 36-year-old started responding to Aspinall days after his call-outs. Jones claimed that Aspinall is “pretending” to chase him all his life. However, “it doesn’t really work like that.”
In their latest retorts, Aspinall asked Jones to forget everything and just focus on the fact that he wants a fight. Further, the interim champion confirmed that he will not keep chasing Jones if he does not want to fight. Jones responded, “Brilliant response mate.”
Fans, throughout the back-and-forth, believed that Jones was avoiding a fight against Aspinall. Many believed that Jones was not willing to fight a younger opponent to protect his legacy. One fan wrote, “he doesn’t want another young gun, judges won’t give it to him.”
Duck confirmed. Massive let down.
— Kieran J 💪 (@Jw95Kieran) January 9, 2024
Another fan wrote, “Duck confirmed. Massive let down.”
Another fan even called him “insecure.”
In one of his latest posts on X, Jones also hinted at retirement. He claimed that he would not overstay like many other fighters.
Jones’ fight at UFC 295 against Stipe Miocic was postponed because the American suffered an injury to his pectoral tendon. While on hiatus, Jones also underwent elbow surgery.
Jon Jones kills “two birds” as he undergoes elbow surgery while recovering from pectoral injury
In a recent video on Instagram, Jones revealed he had a two-hour elbow surgery. He said, “We had a two-hour surgery shaving down some bone spurs. The good news is it’s about a 10-week healing process, and I’m out for months anyway, because of this pec surgery… So I thought I’d just kill two birds and get this elbow taken care of once and for all.”
🚨| Jon Jones has revealed he underwent surgery on his left elbow earlier today.
He says the recovery is around 10 weeks and got it done as he knew he was going to be out anyway so he thought he’d “kill two birds” whilst he also recovers from his torn pec.#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/6rIBymAHWy
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) January 8, 2024
When Jones pulled out of his fight against Miocic, an eight-month recovery period was outlined for the champion. The length of the recovery period will remain the same even after his additional surgery.
UFC CEO Dana White announced that Jones will defend his title against 41-year-old Miocic upon his comeback. This angered the interim champion Aspinall who had taken up a fight against Sergei Pavlovich on short notice at UFC 295 to win the title.