Still yet to receive official confirmation on his fighting plans, the calls for Jon Jones to be stripped are getting louder among the UFC community with each passing day.
Jones, the current ‘undisputed’ heavyweight champion, has been sidelined since last November. Most notably, since then, the Rochester native has also been noncommittal towards his fighting future.
And even more so, non-committal on a title unification with historic interim champion, Tom Aspinall. Initially claiming he would require “f*ck you” money in order to make an expected retirement outing against the Brit, Jones has been rather evasive about signing a contract.
However, this week, Atherton native Aspinall has etched a new record in his brief Octagon run. And it’s more so an embarrassing one for the UFC and its brass of executives and matchmakers. Especially UFC boss, Dana White, who has publicly chided boxing for its inability to ensure the best matchups.
Surpassing former interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao as the longest-serving interim champion, Aspinall’s temporary reign has lasted a shocking 535 days. Having won the belt against Sergei Pavlovich back in 2023, Aspinall was supposed to fight Jones in a unification battle next.
However, upon the Rochester native’s insistence, a retiring Stipe Miocic was made to contest for the undisputed title while Aspinall had to contend with fighting Curtis Blaydes in a bizarre, unheard-of interim title defense at UFC 304 last year.
Since then, Jones has also gone past Miocic 784 days as the heavyweight champion and is now chasing Cain Velasquez’s all-time record of 896 days.
And now, fans have finally had enough, with one on Instagram claiming, “(Jon) Jones should have been stripped months ago.” Another then insisted that Jones should either just fight, or relinquish his title. “He’s gotta run it or let it loose.”
A third UFC fan claimed that the UFC should have never indulged Jones’ idea of defending the title against Micocic last year. “Jon Jones should’ve been stripped as soon as he mentioned he wanted to fight a 43-year-old man (Miocic) rather than the interim champ”, he noted.
— THE UFCGUY (@the_ufcguy) April 29, 2025
But it seems it’s not just fans who are growing more and more frustrated with Jones. For Aspinall, it’s a family affair.
Aspinall’s father urged Jones to fight his son
Despite claims from UFC boss, Dana White, that he was still “super confident” of booking the fight” this year, Aspinall’s father is not all that convinced.
“It’s stupid,” Aspinall Sr. said on his son’s YouTube channel. “I have no idea the reason why the UFC doesn’t really want Tom to fight anybody other than Jon Jones. …Why is he still sitting around, not giving an answer as to whether he’s going to fight or not?” he asked.
It’s the lack of activity for his son that is most concerning for the interim champion’s father, it would appear!
“It’s just a massive pain in the a*s, really,” he added, noting that as a fighter, Tom has to fight. Aspinall Sr. also said that his son has had about three fights that have lasted a minute apiece, and he could do more with more octagon experience.
