Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall have been involved in a heated public rivalry for the better part of the 12 months. Despite the two being at loggerheads, ‘The Honeybadger’ has the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion on his Mount Rushmore of MMA.
The British mixed martial artist recently appeared on Sportbible and praised the American superstar despite their bitter feud. He placed George St-Pierre at the top of the list as the best and ranked his rival second. He rounded off the list with Demetrious Johnson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Aspinall said,
“#1, I’m going to go with GSP. I think he is the best ever… #2, I’ll go with Jon Jones even though I’m trying to fight him… Demetrious Johnson probably #3. He slips under the radar a lot because he’s small and not ever popular. But the guy’s skill level is ridiculous… I think you’d have to go Khabib #4.”
Tom Aspinall’s MMA Mount Rushmore:
Georges St-Pierre
Jon Jones
Demetrious Johnson
Khabib Nurmagomedov— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 29, 2024
It’s hard to argue against a list featuring four of the best UFC fighters in history. However, Aspinall naming Jones is mildly surprising considering he often calls out the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion for not accepting his challenge for the title.
Jon Jones goes after Aspinall as the American takes their feud to the next level
Last year, Jones won the vacant UFC heavyweight title with a dominant win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. Since then, the fighter has been pushing for a dream fight against Stipe Miocic. It was scheduled for UFC 295, but the reigning champion pulled out due to injury and the promotion decided to protect Miocic and canceled the bout.
Instead, Aspinall fought Sergei Pavolovich on short notice, knocked out the Russian, and became the interim heavyweight champion. While Jones is still focused on Miocic, the Brit wants a shot at the heavyweight title.
The interim champion has been trying to lure the reigning champion into setting up a title match. He called him the best fight dodger in the UFC to rile him up. However, Jones wasn’t a fan of that remark and left an explicit comment aimed at Aspinall on an Instagram post that read,
“This dude literally has my large black c*ck in his mouth every week. I’m flattered. I absolutely guarantee he will not win more world championships than me. That’s truly all that matters at the end of the day. There’s been many champions, no one like me. I sleep good at night.”
Tom Aspinall fires back at Jon Jones 👀🍿
"Jon's right, he's won so many more world championships than me… while using PED's"#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/5OXgQ72Hnd
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 29, 2024
He deleted the come but not before Aspinall caught wind of it. The interim champion continued to test the American’s patience and responded with a comment, that read,
“Jon’s right, he’s won so many more world championships than me… while using PEDs.”
Despite the war of words, there’s no word on whether the two will fight for the heavyweight title. For now, it’s a no-contest.
