Jon Jones is in an enviable position right now when it comes to his negotiating power with the UFC but that won’t last forever.
That’s according to UFC legend Matt Brown, who admits that fighters only maintain so much leverage when dealing with matchmakers and executives like Dana White and Hunter Campbell, but Jones has put himself in a position where he maintains a little bit more control over his career considering the attention being paid to a potential fight against Tom Aspinall. Still, Brown cautions Jones not to overplay his hand because eventually the UFC will just move on without him.
“They know that the biggest heavyweight fight you can make is with Jon Jones, period,” Brown said during the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “They know that. We also know the UFC is going to smash records without him. But I guess it kind of depends on what kind of power the UFC will allow Jon to have.
“They want the biggest fight in heavyweight history and they know that’s what Tom and Jon would provide at this point. At the same time, they know if Jon just says ‘f*ck you’ and walks away, they’ll build up somebody. They’ll make Ciryl Gane look like the f*cking boogeyman of the east or some shit. We’ve seen this story before. It goes on. It goes forward. The heavyweight division just happens to be slimmer pickings.”
Brown believes the lack of options at heavyweight, combined with Jones’ considerable star power, puts him in a great position right now, especially with the UFC deep in negotiations on a new broadcast deal that kicks off in 2026.
The situation would be much different if say former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was still around, but without him as an option, the UFC knows Jones vs. Aspinall is arguably the biggest fight available in the sport right now.
“That’s where the issue is where Jon does have some power,” Brown explained. “Because it is heavyweight, that’s the cash cow division. That’s where you make the biggest fights. That’s where the most people care. It is an interesting equilibrium of power there. Kind of going back and forth and negotiating, and I think Jon is at that point in his career where he’s playing that game.
“He wants more power. He’s that type of guy. You can watch an interview with him, you can see who he is. He wants that power. He wants to be the f*cking man. He wants to make the money. The UFC, we know how they are, they’re going to try to fight against that.”
What’s working against Jones is that the UFC maintains a stranglehold over the MMA marketplace, and the organization has continued to put up record breaking numbers in terms of revenue while superstars like Conor McGregor have effectively disappeared.
That doesn’t mean the UFC wouldn’t like to cash in with Jones vs. Aspinall, but the good will being extended right now with delays in making that fight happen won’t last forever.
“The UFC is in a position where it almost doesn’t even matter anymore,” Brown said. “They’re going to sell so much. They’re such a powerful brand. I don’t know how much can possibly happen without significant legal change. Other than that, they’re going to move forward.”
Of course, Aspinall has been rather vocal regarding his frustration with waiting for Jones but Brown doesn’t buy that he’s actually ready to move on from that fight.
For all the noise that Aspinall has made through interviews and over social media, Brown believes that the UFC has almost certainly assured him that the fight with Jones is going to happen eventually or he would have moved onto a new opponent already.
“We don’t know the facts of what’s going on behind the scenes,” Brown said. “We don’t know what’s been said from Jon’s side or Aspinall’s side. I do give Aspinall the benefit of the doubt. If he didn’t think the Jon Jones fight was going to happen, he probably would have taken another fight.
“Comparing it to the [Michael] Chandler situation [with Conor McGregor], I was a little more adamant about that because it felt to me Chandler was waiting on something the chances were slim [it was going to happen] and it just got slimmer and slimmer as it went along. He’s waiting for a glimmer of home whereas Aspinall has a legitimate reason to be waiting for Jon. Jon is still active. He still has things to fight for and he basically said his number, he’s like ‘I’ll fight him, I just need the right number.’”
Ultimately, Brown expects a deal will get done because Jones wants to continue building his legacy and he’s in a great position to do that with a fight against Aspinall.
Unlike Conor McGregor, who may never compete again, Brown is confident that Jones still has some fight left in him and Aspinall is the biggest and best option available.
“Jon is a fighter,” Brown said. “He’s not Conor, which Conor is a fighter, too, I’m not putting him down on that, but he’s different. Jon is a different beast all together. He’s a savage human being. He wants to fight people. You can just tell. He wants to fight people, and I think Conor was there at one point, but it’s pretty clear he’s not been there for a while.
“There’s no one else for Jon to fight, either. If he’s going to keep fighting, he fights Tom, period. There’s no other options out there. So I get Tom waiting for him. I do get it, and I do think if he had other options and wasn’t confident that this was going to happen with Jon, he would have taken other fights.”
