It took a while for Jon Jones to answer Tom Aspinall’s noise for his title strip, but the champ made sure to deliver one sizzling response. Although “Bones” did not name names in his recent tweet, the fighter dismissed the credibility of people asking him to leave his belt.
Aspinall has always been vocal about his intent to fight Jones inside the cage. The Briton even called it his “dream fight.” However, after several attempts of callout without a single answer from Jones, the British fighter later demanded the title stripping of Jones and lambasted UFC for allowing Jones to continuously own it despite the situation.
“I don’t see why he’s still got it,” said the interim heavyweight champion. “I don’t understand that. I think I should be the real champion right now,” stated Aspinall. “It’s hard to say without sounding rude, but who’s asked about Jon Jones and Stipe anymore? Why do we get this legacy fight, and they get to live by their own rules? What’s a legacy fight, a retirement fight for a title? I want to fight Stipe and then I want to fight Jon Jones. … I think all this other stuff is rubbish. Stop protecting him now. Stop protecting your boy Jon Jones at the top.”
Finally, after a long silence, the champ himself has an answer to this. Jones did not specifically name anyone in his post but did underscore why such a protest for a title strip is “hilarious.”
“I’ve faced the absolute toughest competition this world had to offer for 15 years now,” Jones posted on X. “During camp for a title defense, I sustained a major injury that required surgery for the first time in my career.
“Now I have newcomers requesting I get my championship stripped. Zero wins over legends, zero title defenses and already thinking you can call the shots to Dana, that’s hilarious. In my 15-year career, I have seen so many guys who are supposed to be the next big thing. There’s ever only been one Jon Jones, never forget that.”
UFC CEO Dana White also sided with Jones in his recent statement, saying the champ must fight Stipe Miocic. To recall, Aspinall also targeted the bout, which he described as “completely dead in the water now.”
“The Stipe fight has to happen,” said White at UFC on ESPN 52 post-fight press conference. “Both of those guys deserve it. You have the greatest mixed martial artist of all time vs. the greatest heavyweight of all time. They’ve paid their dues, they’ve done their things. These two want to fight each other, and it’s going to happen. Whoever wins, we’ll see what they decide to do after that, and then we’ll go from there.”
