Jon Jones is digging his feet in the sand when it comes to fighting Tom Aspinall.
The current heavyweight champ is set to defend against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 — his first title defense since capturing the title over 20 months ago. Meanwhile, Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title and defended it in Jones’ absence.
While it’s customary for the champ to face the interim titleholder in a unification bout, Jones has no interest in it. In an interview with the NY Post, Jones was asked if Aspinall could do anything to change his mind.
“Really nothing,” Jones said. “I find him annoying and he just... I’ve been here for so long, and he just got to the UFC not too long ago. If he wanted to fight me, he could’ve been here. Like where have you been all of this time?”
Aspinall captured interim gold with a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 a year ago, and then ran over Curtis Blaydes in a title defense at UFC 304 in July.
Jones sees that Aspinall has talent, but he feels he’s already given plenty of fighters chances to make their names off of him.
“At the end of the day he has no real standout legacy,” Jones said. “I think the only guy he beat was Andrei Arlovski. Andrei was very old at the time. He really has nothing that entices me. Nothing. He reminds me of a bunch of other up and comers that I fought that it does nothing for my legacy. Really nothing.”
Jones has hinted at retirement heading into the bout with Miocic — who returns to the octagon after getting brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou nearly four years ago.
There is one thing Aspinall could do to get Jones’ attention, but that’s in long-term planning. The short-term goals for “Bones” is making as much money as he can in fights that will attract the biggest audiences — including current light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira.
“Maybe if he goes on and gets close to my one record, maybe I would be enticed to come back and see,” Jones explained. “But I highly doubt he’ll do that. Pereira though, that’s somebody that interests me. Pereira has these great sagas with Adesanya... he’s beat Jamahal Hill, this guy is a champion killer like myself. That type of stuff entices me. We’re both 37, we both pretty much weigh the same right now. That type of stuff entices me.
“I’m looking for fights that will, financially, put me in a different category. I’m going for fights that people will look at 10 years from now and be like, ‘Jon Jones truly fought the who’s who. The killers. I’m done with the guys that are trying to build names for themselves. The Francis Ngannou’s of the world, the Pereira’s of the world, proven guys, that’s the only thing that can build my legacy at this point.”
