Jon Anik still prefers a fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall over a matchup between “Bones” and Alex Pereira.
Will Jones get either, though? That’s a question that only time will answer.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) recently admitted that he broke a verbal agreement with the UFC for a fight with Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) before vacating the heavyweight championship and retiring from the sport. He walked back his retirement shortly thereafter when news broke UFC would be hosting an event at the White House in 2026, and Jones has since been angling to take on Pereira at that event, with the current UFC light heavyweight champ reciprocating interest.
UFC CEO Dana White has consistently downplayed the idea of Jones vs. Pereira. With Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense against Ciryl Gane ending in a disastrous no contest at UFC 321 and needing an immediate rematch, though, the landscape may have changed.
Lead UFC play-by-play commentator Anik isn’t on board with Jones vs. Pereira, though, and still thinks business with Aspinall must be settled.
“He didn’t want the Tom Aspinall fight,” Anik said on his “Anik & Florian Podcast” with Kenny Florian. “There was legacy-preservation going on. He verbally agreed to a robust number, then went back on his word. He is apologizing and saying he was wrong. Even though I don’t see him as a natural heavyweight and I have a nature to see him to fight ‘Poatan,’ Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall, while it’s not Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson, for me, it’s the one that got away and that is a fight that I was more intrigued to see than Jon Jones vs. ‘Poatan,’ and I think I’m aligned with the big boss there.”
Jones trashed Aspinall in the wake of his no contest with Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), which ended due to an eye poke from the challenger that left the champ unable to continue. He called Aspinall a “one-trick pony” and ragged on his skillset, further expressing interest in facing Pereira instead.
Anik doesn’t know if Jones’ wishes will come true, especially with uncertainty dangling around the timeline.
“Clearly Jon Jones wants the ‘Poatan’ fight. He wants it at the White House,” Anik said. “There are some rumblings maybe it wouldn’t be on President Trump’s birthday, June 14 I think it is, and it would be at some other point in time. Jon Jones would need the discipline to have a training camp and obviously the Alex Pereira training camp takes on an entirely different tone than a Tom Aspinall training camp, even if Jon believes Aspinall’s wrestling and grappling is overrated.”
