1 week Ago By Alex Batt
UFC 309 was another successful night's work for arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time , Jon Jones , after he defended his heavyweight title by defeating one of the best heavyweights to ever do it, Stipe Miocic , via knockout in the third round of their five-round battle in New York. Going into the event, and the fight itself, hardly anything was being mentioned about Jones vs Miocic, as all the pre-fight talk was dominated by what 'Bones' would likely do next if he were to win, with one man's name on everybody's lips. That name, of course, is Tom Aspinall , the current interim heavyweight champion, who has been hunting down Jones for months now, ever since defeating Curtis Blaydes back at UFC 304 in July.
Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall Ever since that night in Manchester, England, all the talk has been about the heavyweight division being unified by pitting Jones against Aspinall to crown one sole champion. However, that is not something that the American is eager to do. In fact, he's simply refused to entertain it, and refused to do media duties at times because of it.
Despite the fight never actually happening, or the fight even being made official, the whole build-up to UFC 309 was dominated by Jones and Aspinall chat, with one man wanting it, and the other man wanting to run away from it. Jon Jones & Tom Aspinall's professional MMA records (as of 17/11/24) Jon Jones Tom Aspinall Fights 30 18 Wins 28 15 Losses 1 3 No contests 1 0 Well, after the dust had settled on the event, and with another win on his resume, Jones did finally address the situation , and he revealed why exactly he DOESN'T want the Aspinall fight next, despite confirming he won't be retiring . Jon Jones Wants Alex Pereira Over Tom Aspinall For those not aware, Jones is eyeing up a title defence against Brazilian Alex Pereira , as he believes that will do more for his legacy than fighting Aspinall.
However, the heavyweight champ revealed more while speaking to TNT Sports in the aftermath of his victory over Miocic, detailing and explaining exactly why he prefers the Pereira fight to the Aspinall one. “I really don’t like Tom,” Jones said. “He’s a great athlete.
I admit I think he’s a bigger threat than Alex Pereira. But I’ve been fighting the best guys in the world my whole career, I’ve been fighting the No. 1 contender my whole career.
So it’s not being a threat that’s the issue. I just don’t like Tom. I find him annoying, and I stick by that.
” It's not just finding Aspinall annoying that is the problem for Jones, though, he also believes the Brit wouldn't add anything to his resume or his legacy in the sport, whereas fighting the current light heavyweight champion would. “Alex Pereira, on the other hand, his accolades are incredible. I think I just beat my ninth world champion [Miocic].
To beat up Tom Aspinall, I don’t break a record doing that, or I don’t set my record further ahead doing that. Beating Alex Pereira, that would be my 10th UFC champion that I beat. It just does more for my legacy.
"I think the numbers are incredibly high. Americans love Alex Pereira, Brazilians love Alex Pereira. If I go to a barber shop and ask ‘Do you know Tom Aspinall?’ No one knows who he is outside UFC fans.
Alex Pereira is a household American star and that’s what I’m aiming for. I want the big fights.” Francis Ngannou's tweet straight after Jon Jones' win at UFC 309 immediately goes viral.
Dana White Doesn't Want Jon Jones vs Alex Pereira So there you have it, those are the reasons why Jon Jones is favouring a fight against Alex Pereira next over Tom Aspinall. However, he'll have to persuade his boss, Dana White , to get that fight booked, because the UFC president made it pretty clear after UFC 309 that he doesn't want to see 'Bones' vs 'Poatan' and that Aspinall is the fight next for the heavyweight champion..
