Welp, there is it. After almost a year of waiting around for Jon Jones to decide whether or not he was gonna fight Tom Aspinall – the rightful #1 contender to Jon’s Heavyweight Championship (as Aspinall is the Interim Heavyweight Champion and even defended that belt once) – he just isn’t. He’d rather retire and leave the disappointing question: “What if…” on the minds of every MMA fan on the planet for the rest of time.
Why? I believe it’s because he knows that nobody in the world has a better chance of beating him than Tom Aspinall, and he’d rather ride off into the sunset having never been truly beaten than test that. And that’s fine and I get it – but personally, I think it’s a shame that the MMA GOAT isn’t the kinda guy willing to take that fight. Especially if rumors are true, and Jones made an outlandish demand to the UFC for this fight, they matched it to call his bluff, and then he pulled back and said nevermind. That’s lame as fuck.
I mean, how do you explain that as the actual greatest fighter on the planet? It’s not like he’s ancient and slow now, either – he’s 37 years old and he’s never lost! He said he was willing to fight pretty much anyone in the UFC other than Tom Aspinall after he beat Stipe Miocic in November, and even called for guys like Jamahal Hill or Alex Pereira (who are not heavyweights) – and then strung Tom and the UFC along for almost a year before deciding he was done! All while being the most annoying person possible about it!
Dana didn’t sound too happy to announce the retirement at the post UFC Baku presser today, especially after getting as close as we got to this fight; he seemed incredibly confident it was happening at one point!
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….but I’m sure part of him is happy to move on from the Jon Jones era.
Gotta feel for Tom Aspinall after being put on ice for so long – but respect to the real heavyweight champ. It’s his time now. Good riddance, Jones.
UPDATE: LOL, of course….
