Jon Jones may be scheduled to face one of the greatest fighters of all time when he steps into the Octagon this weekend at UFC 309 to fight Stipe Miocic, but it seems another name is at the forefront of the heavyweight champion’s mind in the lead up to the massive main event at Madison Square Garden.
The discourse around “Bones” ahead of his long-awaited return from injury on Saturday has focused heavily on whether or not he should be facing current interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, instead of his 42-year-old opponent who hasn’t competed since losing to Francis Ngannou early in 2021, and hasn’t won a fight since beating Daniel Cormier back in 2020.
“Bones” has been speaking at media day today ahead of this Saturday’s massive PPV event and he took the opportunity to open fire on Aspinall and to pour cold water on any prospect of the pair meeting inside the Octagon anytime soon.
“If I’m being completely honest” said Jones, “I feel like Tom’s been such an a**hole that I don’t want to do business with him. You know, like, his fans have been so annoying.
“And obviously you don’t get this far in a career being affected by fans and whatnot, but he’s just an a**hole. You know, he’s 30 so he’s from this ‘influencer generation’ where you hop online, and the t-shirt sales and all that.
“I’m past that type of stuff. I’m like ‘bro, if you had a little bit more respect then maybe we could have worked something out, you know’, but I just don’t even want to do business with him”.
After winning the vacant heavyweight title by beating Cyril Gane early in 2023, Jones was set to defend the belt against former champion Miocic at UFC 295 later that year.
He suffered a torn pectoral tendon in training during the lead up to that fight which resulted in Aspinall being given the opportunity to face Sergei Pavlovich on that card instead for the interim belt. Aspinall knocked the Russian out in the opening round and has since defended the belt by knocking out Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 earlier this year.
Despite interim champions historically being guarenteed the next title shot, Jones was adamant that he doesn’t want to do business with the Brit, instead calling for a fight with current 205lb champion Alex Pereira.
“At the end of the day, this is a business and fighting me gives him an opportunity to change his life forever and I don’t even want to give him the opportunity. He just played his cards wrong with me personally.
“Three years from being a 40-year-old grown man, you know what I’m saying, it’s just like…meh…the press conference, going through the whole shebang with him I’d rather not do.
“Pereira on the other side? Respectful, cool, barely says much. It’s just like, ‘I’ll do business with you. I would risk it all with a human being like you and you actually have the accolades to back up your shit’.
This other guy (Aspinall) is just a big mouth who’s hot today. There’s been so guys who’s hot today who are just gone, you know?
Sergei (Pavlovich) was in the same position not too long ago now he’s starting to (tail) off already. I’ve just been around this sport too long to give a big mouth who’s hot today the opportunity”.
In a recent episode of the Couch Warrior Podcast, host Mike welcomed Charalampos Grigoriou, who recently won a contract during season 7 of Dana White's Contender Series after knocking out Cameron Smotherman one minute into the fight. The conversation delved into Grigoriou's martial arts journey, his feelings on representing Cyprus and Greece, and future plans.
