Jon Jones has remained totally unmoved by claims he is “ducking” a title unification clash with Tom Aspinall later this year, claiming that fans and critics have no effect on his pre-made plans for his UFC future.
Jones, who retains a portion of the heavyweight title, has been in the shadows since his most recent win back in November. However, since 2023, the division has been reigned over by interim champion Aspinall.
Competing just twice since his divisional climb that same year, Jones has been urged to relinquish his portion of the heavyweight crown due to his lack of activity. And to boot, his apparent lack of interest in a title unification showdown with Aspinall.
Mocking Aspinall and releasing carefully curated interviews, Jones is currently on tour in Asia. Furthermore, he has also admitted to being unsure if he will continue fighting in the future. And amid a petition — which has north of 115,000 signatures, calling for the UFC to strip him of the heavyweight crown, Jones remains apathetic at best.
This week, the Rochester native agreed he was not fussed by the “crowd” hoping to force his hand to stick or twist on his Octagon future.
“You’re not accidentally there. You grew up here,” Jones said of himself during an interview on DeepCuts with VicBlends.
“You started as a 23-year-old and now you’re almost 40 fighting for the biggest thing, the UFC belt. Not just every — not any fight, but the biggest fight. I’ve fought the number one contender my whole career,” Joned claimed.
“And so the fear has been lost. The fear has been lost,” Jones added, referring to any anxiety one might feel main evening of a UFC PPV at Madison Square Garden.
Elaborating further, the heavyweight champion said, “Even in my last fight against Stipe Miocic, I just felt — someone gave me a quote a long time ago. They said, ‘Walk into a room as if God sent you there. Like you genuinely belong there. God sent you there.”
Curiously, one of the claims associated with Jones’ apparent ducking of Aspinall is that the former is just fearful of losing. And if you ask Jones that, he admits it’s true.
Jones fearful of defeat
Boasting an unbeaten record beyond a dubious disqualification loss to Matt Hamill, Jones has remained perfect in the Octagon beyond that outing during his initial rise.
But candidly, ahead of a potential fight with Atherton star, Aspinall, Jones admitted he was actually fearful of suffering a setback in the Octagon, ahead of what may be his final-ever venture to the cage.
“I’m so connected to winning, it’s probably not even healthy,” Jones continued. “I see fighters that take losses and they smile, they hug their wives, and say ‘better luck next time’. If I were to ever lose, I would be devastated. I’d be angry, upset and depressed. That’s just my winning nature,” he explained.
Conceivably, Jones would likely enter a pairing with Aspinall as a decent favorite. But the Brit’s constant rise in his absence makes for interesting viewing if they ever duke it out under the UFC umbrella.
