News Tom Aspinall 'Wouldn't Blame' Jon Jones For Retiring After First Defense: 'He Doesn't Have To Fight

[CatchtheseHands]

Do people just think that because Jon moved up to heavy weight that he all of a sudden loses all his skill and abilities? Of course Jon can beat Pav and Aspinal he's better than both of them experience and skill wise. It's just a matter of whether it's worth it for him to take hard fights like those.

 

[ChimRichalds]

At this point, I'm never betting against Jones again. It's always the same story, I'm done trying to convince myself he can be beat.

And I fucking hate it.

 

[deucesarewild]

Why is Jon even fighting Stipe? Old man hasn't fought in 2 years hasn't won in 3. Why is HE the next contender?

Cuz HW is historically the weakest division.

 

[Head Shot - Dead!]

He kinda does have something to prove as he won a vacant belt. Yeah beat the top contender, but the 'actual champ' just beat that contender. Nowhere near as easily and not saying it's not a great win, but still, even so/if I were Jon Jones... I'd want to just pile on the legacy - why not defend it a few times? If you are the best ever...

He's still relatively young, but not for much longer. He's just achieved the feat of becoming HW champ after his undeniable LHW reign... why not just over-prove himself before bowing out.

 

[BowserJr]

The fact that he wanted to go to HW until it cleared out of talent tells me that he's ok with facing stipe now that he's old so if he wins he can claim to beat the "hw goat" making him the lhw and hw goat

All casuals and most people in general will eat that shit up and believe it.

The reality is he dodged all the toughest tests. He wants the legacy but has no interest in actually testing himself

 

[AmonTobin]

Jones is not permitted to retire until UFC scientists have manufactured a perfect clone of him.

 

[Chalky White]

Of course this is the case, anybody that isn’t blind already knew this.

Jones and the UFC have an agreement in place. He returned to save them after the Ngannou debacle, he had all the leverage. He got all the money he wanted, he gets the matchups he wants, he’s going to retire as the undisputed GOAT.

 

[Benoitthegr8]

Cause the UFC is contemplating the intricacies of details of matches that folks haven't even considered yet.

 

[mjfan23]

*beats cyril gane*

“lol yeah he doesnt want to fight the new up and coming fighters and i dont blame him”

Yeah I wonder why he picked to fight against and beat the guy with the worst ground game. He should have just fought Francis to silence the critics oh wait he wasn’t ready for hw until Francis left

 

[ferrisjso]

Although I ultimately agree with the statement, Jon Jones is clearly on track to establish himself as the greatest mixed martial artist by a significant margin.

If he manages to surpass the record of three UFC Heavyweight title defenses, it will be a monumental achievement that no one else in the sport will be able to match.

Furthermore, his next opponents, Stipe, Pavlovich, and Tom Aspinall, are already apparent. He finish his career with a superfight against Adesanya or Pereira for the lols.

Worth noting before the Gane fight Jones promised "at least three" fights at HW. Meaning at least at that point he had a fight mapped out in his head after Stipe.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

You mean a huge money fight for the belt against a guy who'd shown against Francis he had a weak ground game?

Aspinall was pretty clear he meant that Jones would rather have a money/legacy fight against Stipe than fight more dangerous and lesser known opponents in Aspinall and Pavlovich.

Also a guy who doesn't hit very hard for a HW. Gane was a good matchup for Jones. Still fair play to Jones for taking the fight, he could have stayed retired and Gane was technically the #1 ranked guy. I don't think Jones is looking to fight anybody that has ko power and good takedown defense and I don't blame him at all.

Yes Pavlovich is his most interesting option rn (unless Ngannou comes back) but the fight probably wouldn't sell any better than Stipe and there is a chance he could get ko'd and made into a meme Rashad Style.