Is Jon Jones retiring soon? If UFC veteran Chael Sonnen is to be believed, Jones will never need to get into the octagon ever again after the Tom Aspinall fight. If it comes to pass, that is!
Uncle Chael explained the situation the UFC was in at this moment and said that the promotion has an extremely disputed champion as its undisputed heavyweight champion while an interim champion exists. Calling it paradoxical and linguistically impossible, Sonnen added that Jones vs. Aspinall would be the biggest fight to make in the entire industry.
However, if Jones signed on the dotted line for the fight, Sonnen believes that’s it for the ‘GOAT’.
If Jones is to get over on Aspinall, he is very unlikely to fight again. The amount of money he will make for that night of participation, it’s hard to get anybody to fight again. Dana says, he believes it could be the biggest fight but I just want to ask you, just for fun, is that the biggest fight you could hypothetically make up? Could you come up with a bigger one?”
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Jones hasn’t been shy about what it would take for the UFC to get to fight Aspinall and unify the heavyweight titles. It’s a cheque so big that it would take win or loss out of the window for him.
I just don’t like him and at the end of the day, if I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated-I want to say it, I want that ‘f*ck you’ money, honestly. That’s just what it is.
He had later reiterated this during a conversation with Adin Ross.
Jon Jones says the only way he’ll fight Tom Aspinall is if he gets a massive payday:
“The only way that we do it is if Dana and Hunter give me a check that really changes my mind… I want it to be really worth my while.”
@adinross #UFC309pic.twitter.com/SD5QSzaqws
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 17, 2024
So are Dana White and Hunter Campbell throwing Jones that big bag of cash?
White ‘100% sure’ of Jones vs Aspinall in 2025
Following the conclusion of UFC Tampa, the UFC bossman all but confirmed the mega fight happening in 2025. Speaking at the presser, White called it the biggest fight in heavyweight and UFC history. “Yeah, I’ll say 100 percent”, he added responding to the question.
White has always been rather optimistic about convincing Jones to take the Aspinall fight. Even when the UFC was promoting Jones vs Miocic at UFC 309, White had claimed that he believed Jones’ competitive spirit wouldn’t let him leave in the shadows.
He had also made it clear that if Jones were to fight in the UFC, it would be to unify his title. He could just go for fun fights like he wants, White had asserted.
The UFC bossman had also refuted rumors of Jones fighting Pereira, claiming that it would be a stylistic nightmare and he actually liked Pereira!
