Jon Jones is confident that he can win not only over Stipe Miocic but also against Tom Aspinall and long-time rival Francis Ngannou.
Jones’ comeback timeline remains unknown after undergoing two surgeries for pectoral and elbow. Nonetheless, UFC is determined to push his fight against Miocic despite Aspinall, the promotion’s current interim heavyweight champ, expressing interest in challenging either Miocic or Aspinall in the meantime. In his recent statements, “Bones” also turned down the Briton’s challenges, underscoring that his focus is on the fellow veteran.
Despite that, Jones is not closing the possibility of meeting Aspinall in the future. For the UFC star, the same goes for Ngannou. MMA fans have been hoping for a fight between the two since both were still under UFC. However, after Ngannou left the promotion and signed under PFL, the talks about it started to die. In the past, UFC CEO Dana White even criticized the idea of having a collaboration between his company and the PFL to push the Jones vs. Ngannou bout.
When asked about the matter during his appearance at the PFL vs. Bellator Champs event, the fighter didn’t dismiss the idea of fighting Ngannou. For the fighter, defeating all the fighters being linked to his name is not impossible. Yet, as he stressed, the power of whether these fights will be pushed still lies in the hands of promotions, and his job is just to fight whoever is placed in front of him.
“I feel like there’s a lot of fights that the world wants right now,” said Jones. “The Tom Aspinall fight, that’s still really massive. Francis Ngannou and I would be really massive. And Stipe Miocic, to the hardcore fans, is still a respectable opponent. I don’t know how the cards are going to fall. My prediction is that I will beat Stipe Miocic. My prediction is that I will beat Tom Aspinall and Francis Ngannou.
“The way that it unfolds is really not my business. My job is to just do what I’ve always done since day one.”
When asked about the long-debated question of who really is the MMA GOAT between him and Ngannou, the fighter opted to give the MMA world the chance to decide. For him, this will be reflected by each fighter’s record and performance inside the cage.
“I don’t feel like I’m in a place where I need to toot my own horn,” Jones said. “I feel that my body of work speaks for itself. I think my reception from the MMA enthusiasts speaks for itself. I’ll just leave it at that.”
