Jon Jones refused to fight UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall even if he managed to get past Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 and it has absolutely enraged everybody and their mothers. They have been letting him know about it as well, with what are essentially murals of “duck” painted all over his timeline.
Rules, despite their rather a liberal use of the word in the UFC, dictate that should an interim champion be crowned in the absence of a true champion, the true champion must then fight him upon return to ensure one of them becomes the undisputed champion.
When Jones fell off the radar after defeating Cyril Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023, Aspinall stood up and moved the division along by winning the interim title. Upon return, Jones’s first fight should have been against the Brit but the UFC let those rules slide.
Aspinall got to defend his interim title instead, while Jones will defend his ‘undisputed’ title against Miocic on November 16. Jones has claimed this fight was for his legacy.
This, of course, is bizarre since Miocic has not fought in over 3 years and does not have a belt around his waist either.
Naturally, this hasn’t sat well with many in the community, who have let their voices heard by claiming Jones’ sounds like “Quack Quack”.
But after the constant trash-talking Jones has had enough. In a since-deleted tweet, he clapped back at the fans who were trolling him,
“I’m going to hide in my mansion and not come outside, people are calling me a duck come oh no my world is over what is this high school? lol”
Given his history with civilians, he would fight fans too but probably not before he fights ‘Miocic for his legacy’. The only fight ‘Bones‘ has shown any interest in is a showdown against Alex Pereira. He again, believes it would add to his legacy.
Jones is not the only one who has not been keen on fighting the guys with a right to get into the octagon with him either.
UFC’s ducking problem
Jones might lead the way but this is a company-wide problem right now. Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili was keen on a November rematch with Sean O’Malley, who he had easily beaten to win the title But he doesn’t want to extend the same courtesy to the title contender Umar Nurmagomedov, who has been publicly touted as the one wrestler to beat Merab at his own game.
When the Georgian was asked about Nurmagomedov in the octagon after his title win at UFC 306, he simply replied with how much he loved UFC President Dana White. The champ has since blocked the Dagestani fighter on Twitter claiming he had been disrespected by the callouts!
Then there’s light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. ‘Poatan’ currently is the blue-eyed boy of the UFC, who can do nothing wrong after having defended his title thrice in 2024. But even he won’t fight #1 contender Magomed Ankalaev. Pereira has often blamed it on the UFC for not giving the title fight and has claimed that the company has done so because the Russian was boring.
So, yes, this habit of pick and choose seems to have taken root in the company. For Dana White, who has time and again complained about how boxing has been ruined owing to the similar nature of their fights, this should be a bigger thorn in his backside than it seems to be right now.
