Do you think Jon Jones is actually scared of Aspinall?

[CJrider]

Jon has no fear about getting beat up or getting KO'd, that's a non issue. He's protecting his legacy while ruining Tom's by robbing years of his prime when he could be defending the belt 2x or more per 12 months.

Jones has held that belt hostage now for 2 years and 2 weeks and won't fight outside of MSG, so don't expect to see him in the Octagon before November.

 

[joy2day]

Jon wakes up out of Tom nightmares covered in sweat every night.

Jon takes medication so that he won't visibly shake any time he might run into Tom, or when he even has to speak about Tom.

His fears of Tom run so deep they invade every unit of space in his being- both the conscious and the unconscious, the material and the spiritual.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

The last part was a joke... lol.

Oh alright. Some people here ARE that stupid

 

[sdpdude9]

I don’t think he’s scared of Aspinall per se. But I think he recognizes the challenge he presents and he’s afraid of harming his legacy. He’s afraid of losing in general but especially to somebody relatively unestablished and what that would mean for his legacy.

 

[Bret 'The Hitman' Hart]

GSP when Whittaker was the interim champ.

It’s actually eerie how similar both situations are: both guys (Jon and GSP) moved up a division after a hiatus, got the belt and refusing to fight the interim champ.

GSP had the decency of retiring and vacating the belt. It was a one-shot deal: Get the belt or lose > Retire for good

Jones is holding that belt hostage and will only fight old men and pick easy, no-risk fights with a clear path to victory. That's 10 times worse, that's cowardice

Ans even worse than Jones? Uncle Dana and the UFC enabling him and wasting their future HW champ's best years

 

[MMAFanCal]

Yes, all of his actions and his words that he does not want to risk his legacy and that he keeps referring to Aspinall in belittling words such as. 'up and comer' (doh! he is the interim champion who walked through everyone he faced and Jones was an up and comer once when he was given a chance by someone else), are more than enough evidence of him being scared of Aspinall. He knows Aspinall is bigger, stronger, faster and also has great takedown defense with the big one-punch knockout power that no one else came close to being in possession of. He is a very different fighter from anything else. You look at how slow Jones looked in the Miocic fight, it is a no brainer. Add to the fact that he has a much bigger bone structure and +30 lbs heavier than Jones. There is ZERO doubt he is scared regardless of how Dana White protects him.

 

[Joshua8531]

His actions speak like he's scared of him, but I'm not sure.

If he ends up not fighting him even though he has the interim belt or he's waiting for Aspinall to fight someone else and Tom loses. So Jon doesn't have to fight him as a result.

Than he looks scared imo.

Although, I guess fear is normal, fear of losing, fear of being humiliated by that particular fighter.

But what do you guys think?

Who cares.

 

[Tweak896]

He's as scared as GSP was of the MW division by retiring. Or maybe Silva was of LHW. I feel like if you remove the hate and treat him like other GOAT candidates then it's not as bad.

He's a pretty chubby HW and is getting injuries in his career for the first time. I wouldn't say he's scared. I think it's a huge risk. If he grinds out Aspinall with wrestling and cardio, people will write him off like they did Gane. The narrative will be "HW division sucks". If he gets KO'd then loses his basically perfect record in a higher weight class at the end of his career.

 

[KO Shotz]

A win over Aspinall doesn't do anything significant for his legacy. A loss would be detrimental to his legacy. So for the high risk & no reward he wants to get paid for taking the fight.

 

[Meathead Jock]

I think he's aware of the damage it'll do to his legacy considering he's survived multiple positive PED tests, abuse to a significant other and injuring a pregnant woman in a car accident he fled from with the supposed GOAT label intact to some people. If he actually loses a fight, I don't think it's worth it to his ego and how he thinks he's perceived.

Do I think he's afraid? Absolutely not.

This is the man who's attacked a cop car with his head. That's top tier fearlessness.

I clicked scared. But like you said. Fear of what a loss would do to his legacy, not a fear of getting punched but he has made comments about thinking fighters who get punched in sparing a lot and accept brain damage are dumb.

Bubba being scared of Uriah Hall is about the only time I think a fighter was legitimately scared of an opponent rather than scared of the outcome.

 

[Intermission]

"I will fight him, But not that guy"

And he gets less money from the other guy.

That's scared by definition.

 

[OldBoy91]

He is not scared of Tom the man, he is scared of losing, period.

Then add on to losing and tarnishing his (in his mind only) perfect legacy, he is scared of losing badly. Being KOed in front of the whole world.

He is aware that's more likely to happen against Aspinall than against anybody else he's ever fought. He said it himself, he wants fuck you money, so that it doesn't sting as much in the event of a loss. That is not the words of a confident man.

So in a roundabout way yes, he is scared of fighting Tom Aspinall the fighter. Not Tom Aspinall the man, nobody should be, Tom is a big Teddy bear

And for the people undoubtedly saying "he is scared of no man, he's a world class professional fighter" that simply isn't true, Jon himself admitted he was terrified of Rampage Jackson, who is indeed, another living person.

 

[OldBoy91]

I clicked scared. But like you said. Fear of what a loss would do to his legacy, not a fear of getting punched but he has made comments about thinking fighters who get punched in sparing a lot and accept brain damage are dumb.

Bubba being scared of Uriah Hall is about the only time I think a fighter was legitimately scared of an opponent rather than scared of the outcome.

Jon literally admitted he was terrified of Rampage Jackson.

I do agree overall with your take however.

 

[Blastbeat]

i dont think he's scared of Tom as a guy. Tom doesnt come off as scary anyway, he comes off as very soft spoken.

i'll agree with a bunch of other posters here that Jones fears losing; he fears a loss. thats something he fears more than any one fighter. he came really close to losing at least 2-3 times (and many think Reyes shouldve beaten him).

he's only getting older, too. Father Time is undefeated, as the saying goes.

 

[Dorkman]

I don't think he's scared, per se.

I do think he knows he probably won't win.

He's not scared of the man. He's terrified to lose his legacy He's coveted for years though. He's always pumping his own tires about being undefeated and the goat. Getting clobbered makes a legitimate argument against that and he knows it. He knows his legacy is literally all he has since he's such a piece of shit outside the cage.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

I don't think he's scared. He's being calculated. Jones is a businessman. He admits that it's a dangerous fight and he's at the end of his career. Does he fight young guys that could beat him or does he just have super fights against the Stipe's of the world?

He said he wants enough money where if he goes in there and loses, he can look at his bank account and be happy with it.

I think Jones cares about legacy and his resume and he seemingly sees Tom as just as another Gus, Reyes and all of the other people that were touted as the next big thing.

 

[Alpha_T83]

I don't think Jon Jones is scared of Aspinall. I think he's scared of old age and wants to retire as the champion. Look at all the freak injuries that have happened to fighters over the years. Jones almost lost to Chael Sonnen because he broke his toe. If Sonnen had survived that first round, there was a real chance Jones would have had to take the TKO loss.

The older you get, the more likely that outcome. Not to mention that you can be beaten by younger/faster fighters that KO you.

So I don't think Jon Jones wants to take *any* fight that isn't a money fight, because every fight is a risk at this point. He wouldn't fight Pavlovich or Volkov either, but he's definitely not scared of those guys.The only fights I can see Jones taking are Alex Pereira and Cyril Gane, because he knows he can take those guys down and beat them easily. Any other fight is a big risk of injury with not much upside.

IMO Jones should just retire and vacate his belt. But he's a scumbag (wife beating) drug addict with zero integrity, so we all know he won't do the honorable thing like GSP did.

 

[pamirec]

He is not scared. He’s just at a point in his career where he doesn’t have to fight the best. I know, he’s holding the “undisputed” belt, but it’s mostly because of teh Goof’s stubbornness.

 

[cws80us]

I’m so over this guy. What kind of ufc champ refuses to fight an interim champ? It’s pathetic.

He hasn't refused, dope. He just wants to get paid. He has all the leverage, it's late in his career, and he doesn't owe anything to you or anyone else at this point.

 

[Natural Order]

If you didn't understand that this is how Jones HW tenure would go, I don't know what to tell you.