Tom Aspinall landed a strong right hook flush on Curtis Blaydes’ chin to knock him down, followed up by a ground-and-pound to secure a win at UFC 304. This was Tom ‘Honey Badger’ Aspinall’s 1st win since winning the Interim Heavyweight Championship belt. It’s quite funny how the Interim belt has now been defended once already, while the actual champ of the division hasn’t fought in over 16 months.
And Tom Aspinall made sure to make a note of that following his win on Sunday. The 31-year-old called out Jon Jones multiple times after the fight, starting from his Octagon Interview, where he called himself better than UFC’s greatest ever.
Afterwards, during his post-match press conference, Tom Aspinall suggested having a 4-man tournament with him fighting Alex Pereira and Jon Jones going up against Stipe Miocic with the winner fighting for the Undisputed Heavyweight title. While this surely is an idea MMA fans would drool over, nothing of those sorts is likely to happen.
But apparently, Tom Aspinall still felt there was a need to get his point across better. So the English fighter took to his Instagram, where he made his intentions of getting into the ring with Jon ‘Bones’ Jones clear as water. In a video titled, “My message to Jon Jones” UFC’s current interim Heavyweight champ stated, “I’m the best heavyweight in the world. Prove me wrong, John. If you think you are, prove me wrong. Simple. Nothing but other stuff. I ain’t hating on nobody. I’m the best heavyweight in the world. If you think you are, let’s settle it. Simple as that.”
Except, it’s not really that simple. While there is no doubt in the world that Tom Aspinall deserves a shot at that Undisputed Heavyweight Title more than anyone ever has, Jon Jones will most likely not fall for it. At this stage of his career, ‘Bones’ has only one or two good fights left in him. Now, it’s all about preserving his own legacy.
A fight with Aspinall would most likely mean that the unconventional “undefeated” tag that Jon Jones has maintained up till now will get tarnished. Because frankly, a 37-year-old Jon Jones is not a good matchup against a prime Tom Aspinall who has finished his last 3 UFC fights in just 3 minutes 23 seconds combined.
While this will be quite anti-climatic for millions of MMA fans around the world, Jon Jones will most likely never fight Tom Aspinall. And a huge chunk of netizens seem to be aware of this. And many have been calling out Jon Jones for ducking Tom Aspinall on the internet for a long time already.
