Jon Jones might be the greatest fighter of all-time, but he’s come under fire lately after saying publicly that he has no interest in facing interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
The conversation started as Jones prepares to face Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event with rumors swirling that one or both of them might retire after the fight is finished. For his part, Jones admitted that there’s a world where he continues to compete, but if he’s going to stick around after Saturday night, a matchup against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira might interest him. Jones just doesn’t see what he has to gain by fighting Aspinall.
As a result, Jones has been accused of ducking Aspinall, who sports an 8-1 record in the UFC with all eight wins coming by knockout or submission inside two rounds.
“I guess you kind of have to define what ‘ducking’ is, right?” UFC legend Matt Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Jon’s not scared. I don’t believe that for a second. Is he playing the game and choosing not to fight Tom Aspinall? Absolutely.
“It’s the proper fight to make. I don’t think there’s any question about that. He wants the bigger fight with Alex Pereira. I don’t think that’s what a champion should do but that’s what every champion is doing now, right? They’re all wanting to move up a weight class. They’re all wanting to fight the big fights. Sean O’Malley wanted to fight [Ilia Topuria]. That’s what every champion is doing now.”
In a world of risk versus reward, Brown doesn’t fault Jones for going after a bigger, more lucrative fight with somebody like Pereira, who has quickly become one of the most marketable stars on the UFC roster.
On paper, Jones vs. Pereira is a more marketable fight to sell pay-per-views and that means higher paychecks for everybody involved.
“We are in the business of prizefighting,” Brown said. “We go for the biggest prize. Tom Aspinall, unfortunately is not the biggest prize. Is he the most deserving? Should he be the next fight? Absolutely. He’s not the biggest prize.”
Jones chasing a bigger payday isn’t necessarily the issue.
It’s Jones vehemently shutting down a fight against Aspinall, who is the interim champion in his same division, and then seeking a much more favorable matchup against a 205 pounder like Pereira, which doesn’t paint him in the best light.
“The fact that he brought up that he is going to fight again, and it’s not going to be the current interim champion, that’s a mistake on his part,” Brown said. “UFC should have sent a PR trainer out there to him or something. ‘How about we don’t talk about the future and focus on what we’re doing now. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.’
“But he crossed the bridge and opened up the door. He has to know when he says that, there’s going to be criticism that he’s ducking. It’s not a good look. Jon don’t give a f*ck. He just says it.”
Brown also takes exception to the way Jones discounts Aspinall as just another guy in line versus a potential matchup with Pereira when it comes to his overall legacy in the sport.
By all accounts, Jones has already defined himself as one of the most accomplished and talented fighters to ever grace the UFC octagon and one more fight against Aspinall or Pereira won’t really change that.
Still, Brown argues that Jones beating Aspinall would actually mean more in the long run because he would be facing a champion and somebody who competes in his current weight class. The same can’t be said for Pereira — a devastating striker who fights at 205 pounds but deals with a tactical disadvantage going up against Jones with his grappling and wrestling background.
“In terms of legacy, I do think Tom Aspinall is the proper fight for legacy, too,” Brown explained. “He is the interim title holder. It gives you more of a legacy. The fact is he goes in and takes down Alex Pereira and wrecks him on the ground in two minutes, like he did Ciryl Gane, no one’s going to be shocked and be like ‘that was the greatest legacy fight, you are the greatest ever.’ He goes in and does that, it doesn’t really add to the legacy, I don’t think.
“If he does that to Tom Aspinall, I think everybody sits back and [says] ‘f*ck!’ After beating Stipe obviously first and then does it to Tom Aspinall? To me, that’s a more of a legacy fight than Alex Pereira.”
Regardless of the advantages Jones might hold over somebody like Pereira versus Aspinall, Brown doesn’t buy that the reigning UFC heavyweight champion is actually running from anybody.
But Jones has now opened himself up for criticism by stating that he’s not interested in unifying the titles with Aspinall but instead prefers Pereira as a future opponent.
“He’s not scared,” Brown said about Jones. “He’d fight anybody I’m sure. I’m sure he has 1,000 percent confidence that he would beat Tom Aspinall. But that is the biggest heavyweight challenge in the world if you beat Stipe. Fact.
“That is the next challenge so if you are going to keep fighting, that is what’s expected of you to do.”
