Three top heavyweight fighters, Tom Aspinall, Jon Jones, and Francis Ngannou are vying for the top spot.
The fighters are at the top of their league even though Jon Jones is considered the world’s best. Jones has defeated top fighters like Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic and is currently on top of his game but UFC fighter Dan Hardy says Jones’s position is not settled and feels the fighter may not be the “undisputed” champion after all.
“I think Jon Jones is the pound-for-pound best,” Hardy explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I think he’s the best representation of mixed martial arts generally that we’ve ever seen.And, I think he’s still evolving, which is terrifying. But is he the best current heavyweight on the planet? I don’t think so.
“I think the winner of Aspinall versus Ngannou would be the answer … no disrespect in any way to Jon. Current heavyweight champion but not the current best heavyweight on the planet. Certainly not.”
Hardy does not deny Jones’s capability as a fighter but he says the fighter hasn’t gotten the chance to test his mettle against tough opponents. He believes fighters like Aspinall and Ngannou will pose a threat to the heavyweight champ if he ever decides to get in the cage with them.
“You play those three fights out in any different order, in any different scenario, whether it’s the octagon or the SmartCage or a boxing ring or whatever, they play out differently every time,” Hardy said. “The reality is Tom Aspinall is the fastest out of all three of them. That makes him very, very dangerous at heavyweight because speed kills at heavyweight.
“The big difference when athletes started to enter the heavyweight division, the likes of Andrei Arlovski back in the day, you look at those guys and they look like a welterweight that’s blown up in size in all the right proportions. That’s what’s scary about Tom Aspinall. What was he on the scale? 254 [pounds]? He’s right at the top end of the heavyweight division with no fat on him. You can say the same thing for Francis Ngannou. So physical specimens, I would say Jon Jones is bottom of the rung.”
“The creativity of Jon Jones and the wisdom, the fight IQ, that reigns supreme,” Hardy said. “I just wonder if he’s got that ability in the heavyweight division with someone as fast as Tom Aspinall and someone as powerful as Francis Ngannou. There were times when Stipe [Miocic] landed [on Jones at UFC 309] and I think if Ngannou lands those shots, Jon Jones doesn’t get back up.
“I also think the speed of Tom Aspinall would allow him to land punches against Jon Jones and Ngannou that both of those guys wouldn’t see coming and wouldn’t be able to stop. The question is would he be able to do that kind of damage to knock them out? I don’t know. I’ve seen Francis take some big shots. I know obviously he got knocked out by Anthony Joshua but at the same time, you’re talking of an elite-level boxer who’s an incredible athlete at the same time. I mean, it’s just so difficult to pick one.”
Although there might be a possibility of Aspinall facing Jones, there is no foreseeable future for a Ngannou vs Jones match-up. The Cameroonian fighter recently faced and defeated PFL heavyweight champ Renan Fereira. He is set to face the winner of the 2024 PFL championship bout between Oleg Popov vs Denis Goltsov.
“That is a real challenge and that’s above my pay grade with me just being the head of fighter ops for Europe,” Hardy said about Ngannou’s next opponent. “Obviously the heavyweight championship we have coming up is going to determine a contender. We’ve also got the likes of [Vadim] Nemkov in the heavyweight division which could be a very interesting problem.
“‘Reug Reug’ [Oumar Kane] called Ngannou out, that would be an interesting cross-promotion with ONE Championship and that’s me speaking as a fan. I don’t make those calls but if it was up to me, I would be open to a ‘Reug Reug’ crossover fight, especially if we could hold it in Africa. That would be incredible.”
