Why is Jon Jones so scared to fight Aspinall?

[Takes Two To Tango]

The guy fought lesser opponents like Dominic Reyes and by a lot of you thought Jones lost that fight.

So why is he afraid to fight Aspinall?

Even if he lost the fight against Tom, it wouldn't look so bad. He lost to a very good fighter who's naturally bigger than him.

Weird how Jones perceives things.

He had nothing to lose in fighting Aspinall imo. The loss wouldn't change his legacy. It would gain more respect than anything else that he fought the best HW at the time.

 

[MaulingMyClown]

It would 100% change his legacy...he'd have an actual loss on his record. That being said Jon destroys Tom if they fight.

 

[Michael Wetzel]

At this point in his career Jones is only interested in fights where he will get a big payday and/or has an easy path to victory. Aspinall is a hard hitter and not a draw. It would be high risk-low reward. Francis would be high risk-high reward. Alex would be low risk-low reward. Stipe was low risk-low reward.

 

[Gregoire1]

Because if you go into a cage with Asp, you can't win:either you lose, or he'll run away, feigning injury. Its scary opponent.

 

[mmacrisis]

People say he is afraid, I view it as he doesn't care enough about Tom as a fighter to want to train. Jon is at the point of needing opponents that would challenge him, push him during training, make him walk the straight line to get to the fight. Tom is not that fighter. A win of Tom and its 'Tom wasn't that special' "Jon should have fought Francis' blah blah. If Tom wins people will say 'Jon should have retired' etc etc.

I don't think Tom is that special, he is good but not special, at least not yet.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

He doesn’t take huge risks. He didn’t take the Francis fight for a reason.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

It would 100% change his legacy...he'd have an actual loss on his record. That being said Jon destroys Tom if they fight.

I disagree, his legacy would be intact. Losing to Aspinall who is the best HW out there is not shameful. It's honorable that he even stood up and took the fight.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

At this point in his career Jones is only interested in fights where he will get a big payday and/or has an easy path to victory. Aspinall is a hard hitter and not a draw. It would be high risk-low reward. Francis would be high risk-high reward. Alex would be low risk-low reward. Stipe was low risk-low reward.

Yes Stipe is a low risk reward, but isn't Dominic Reyes a highly risky fight? Someone who has no heavy legacy and can beat him and almost did.

So why did he fight Dominic Reyes? That's a huge risk to his legacy imo.

 

[Chagaev]

People say he is afraid, I view it as he doesn't care enough about Tom as a fighter to want to train. Jon is at the point of needing opponents that would challenge him, push him during training, make him walk the straight line to get to the fight. Tom is not that fighter. A win of Tom and its 'Tom wasn't that special' "Jon should have fought Francis' blah blah. If Tom wins people will say 'Jon should have retired' etc etc.

I don't think Tom is that special, he is good but not special, at least not yet.

But he fought Stipe who was retired and had not won a fight in the last five years. He felt challenged by that.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Scared lol so cute, its like 8 year old kids in the playground talk. These are adult male pro fighters and Jones has had tons of fights against the best and beat them all, he isn't scared of no human on earth and nor is Tom scared or anyone else in UFC. Leave the scaredy talk for the playground for the kiddies. The reason is something else and its probably a combination of many things, Jones has retired, doesn't feel the need to fight anymore and realizes he is getting older and has nothing to prove.

Could Jones vs Tom or Jones vs Alex or Jones vs Gane 2 happen? absolutely because Jones changes his mind often, he's not exactly like Jim Miller where what you see is what you get and its not complicated lol, Jones changes from one month to the next so even though he said he has retired, I would not be surprised at all if he is fighting in UFC in 2026, thats how he is.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Scared lol so cute, its like 8 year old kids in the playground talk. These are adult male pro fighters and Jones has had tons of fights against the best and beat them all, he isn't scared of no human on earth and nor is Tom scared or anyone else in UFC. Leave the scaredy talk for the playground for the kiddies. The reason is something else and its probably a combination of many things, Jones has retired, doesn't feel the need to fight anymore and realizes he is getting older and has nothing to prove.

Could Jones vs Tom or Jones vs Alex or Jones vs Gane 2 happen? absolutely because Jones changes his mind often, he's not exactly like Jim Miller where what you see is what you get and its not complicated lol, Jones changes from one month to the next so even though he said he has retired, I would not be surprised at all if he is fighting in UFC in 2026, thats how he is.

Sorry scared of a man or any man maybe farfetch, but the guy is obviously afraid to lose or something like that.

Yes, well see what happens in the future.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Because Jon knows that Tom won't continue to fight after getting poked. He'll force the ref to either DQ or NC.

That puts a wrench in Jones' strategy.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Big guy, athletic for his size, grappling background but also above average quick hands with one hitter quitter power, not much film on him to study making it hard to assess his ceiling and how difficult he would be to take down and keep down.

Similar deal with Ngannou - massive puncher, huge, strong, athletic for his size, by the time the fight was being talked about looked to have possibly developed enough takedown defence to force extended stand up situations, which would have been very dangerous for Jon.

Gane on the other hand, a MT guy who had his first MMA fight in 2018, was considered to be pillow fisted and was seen being outwrestled by Ngannou with bad knees. Poatan, big hitter but not a HW, inexperienced, was seen going to split decision with a 40 year old Jan who had been a C level guy in his prime in a division Jon was dominating, spending half of the fight on his back.

 

[Trabaho]

He had nothing to lose in fighting Aspinall imo.

Have you ever tought about that you can lose health ? Jon talked multiple times about preserving his brain and well being.

You never got punched before ?

 

[RockyLockridge]

Jons at the point in his career where he's olny going to take fights that mean something to him. Beating stipe meant something to him (and not the rest of us). Beating tom means nothing to him (but something to the rest of us)

 

[haj02]

Tom just wasn't that compelling a fight to Jon. He is a young largely unproven against elite fighters and not well known HW. Tom had everything to gain and nothing to lose, the opposite was true for Jon - it wouldn't be the final stamp on his career, it would be oh well Aspinall was never that good anyway - he was 15-3 before the fight. Also Jon didn't like the way Tom was going about trying to make the fight happen including his behaviour when the met at the bodybuilding expo.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Yes Stipe is a low risk reward, but isn't Dominic Reyes a highly risky fight? Someone who has no heavy legacy and can beat him and almost did.

So why did he fight Dominic Reyes? That's a huge risk to his legacy imo.

The Reyes fight was a long time ago though. He was 32 years old and that was the 4th fight he'd had in the space of 18 months. He was still pretty young and in the thick of things back then. Hes now pushing 40 and barely fights anymore. Its a different stage of his career with very possibly a different mentality from him in terms of his risk/reward assessment when he takes fights.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Aspinall isn’t worthy of Jone’s grace

 

[Alpha_T83]

Tom has KO power and good jiu-jitsu. He would likely be harder to take down than Gane, and even then, Tom would be much more dangerous on the ground, as well as more difficult to finish.

If Jon was the same age as Tom, I do believe he would fight him. But at Jon's age, he will inevitably slow down. I'm a Jones hater, but he is smart to avoid Tom.

 

[jeff7b9]

Because if you go into a cage with Asp, you can't win:either you lose, or he'll run away, feigning injury. Its scary opponent.

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