Jon's biggest challenge right now is to figure out how to get away clean without looking like a fraud, and while it seems easily dismissed based on his legacy fights... this current Jones era of "I'm too old to fight, unless I have all the advantages in which case I'm the greatest cherry-picker of all-time" is a fucking joke.
I get confidence and believing yourself, or marketing yourself and all that... but don't go out, claim you're the best and fight cans to prove it. That's the shit that is fucking irritating.
Jon can't beat Aspinall, and Jon did not like getting touched by Stipe. It didn't happen often, but when Stipe caught him, Jon would turn and run (slowly), then reset. Stipe was just too crippled and old to catch him. ANY other LHW or HW not fat as fuck would have ran him down in a split second and never given him the chance to recover.
Jon would be a heavy favourite against Alex and he should be. But Jon is not going to like when Alex connects with his jaw or those skinny little legs. Jon will win, but if he doesn't put Alex away fast, he's going to feel it, and the longer that fight goes, the more time works against Jon.
Jon can argue Alex is more worthy or deserving than Tom, but no real MMA fan is going buy that level of straight-up bullshit. HW Jon should (rightfully) be an underdog to Aspinall, and it's the only fight that doesn't make Jon look like a bitch. Any opponent not named Tom Aspinall is just going to be seen as Jones ducking, and it's not even just perception at this point, it's pretty much a fact.
No martial arts training plus dominated by emotion like a woman and the mental age of 15 is a potent combo for analysis.
Imagine saying that a fighter who is universally recognized as having the most impressive resume in mma history, who is also easily the most talented fighter as well, is a fraud.
You can ask a room full of the greatest fighters to ever live, the best analysts on the planet in boxing and MMA
Not a single one of them would repeat such nonsense.
As Ngannou said recently, Jon doesn't gain anything by fighting Aspinall.
DC also said Jones has beaten 3 generations of fighters. He doesn't need to fight aspinall.
The reason for them saying that is Jones resume was already set in stone before he even went to HW. Even If he retired after he fought Reyes, he would've went down as the goat by the vast majority of educated minds and trained athletes both in and outside of mma.
He went up in weight for one reason, big money fights. Whether he wins or loses to Tom, it doesn't change that reality.
So, this idea that he has something he still needs to prove to a couch warrior like yourself, he doesn't.
When you're 37, you've already reached the top of the food chain, you've paid your dues and accomplished everything you're going to accomplish, you've earned the right to pursue fights that truly get you excited to perform, during a time when motivation is waning and that also provide the most financial reward, during their last opportunity to truly make wealth for their families.
Ngannou left the ufc to box for the same reason. A bigger paycheck that made the most sense In terms of business.
When GSP came back, he was accused of dodging Woodley and took an easier fight against an aged bisping for the MW title.
Ngannou wasn't scared of Jones. Jones isn't scared of Tom. GSP wasn't scared of Woodley. But it's business. Welcome to combat sports.
There's countless examples of Floyd Mayweather making similar business minded decisions and many other fighters doing the exact same thing if you dig into the boxing archives.
At the end of the day, this is a business and that becomes all the more real when you only have one or two fights left.
As a fan of MMA, I hope it happens, but either way, whether you like him or not, his legacy is set in stone.
