UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has finally agreed to face Tom Aspinall, but it appears he will need some time to prepare for the fight.
Jones had previously resisted the idea of fighting Aspinall, but after much persuasion to unify the title, he has now agreed to battle the interim champion. However, the champ stated that he would need six months to prepare for the bout. While fans expressed disappointment over the delay, UFC fighter Kevin Holland has come to Jones’ defense. In a recent appearance on Believe You Me podcast, Holland expressed his support of Jones’ decision to take additional time to prepare.
“I’m going to stand up for him a little bit,” Holland said of Jones. “The dude’s been around for a very long time, and he’s fought a lot of people. Tom Aspinall is an absolute beast. Jon Jones is the greatest to do it in his timeframe, and now he’s actually doing it in a different timeframe—probably one that favors Tom Aspinall. If I’m Jon Jones, I’m going to play it like Floyd Mayweather, like these old-school boxers did. I’m going to be the OG of the game.
“Yeah, we may not like it. It sucks. We want to see the fight tomorrow. But the older I get, the slower I play the game,” Holland continued. “If I’m Jon Jones, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure Tom Aspinall understands how powerful and dominant I’ve been over the years and everything I’ve accomplished. So that by the time we fight, he’ll be so messed up inside his own head, and it’ll be rough. Hopefully, Tom doesn’t fall for that!”
Holland was then asked how he’d suggest Aspinall handle Jones’ ongoing delays in signing the contract, and he proposed a surprising solution.
“If I’m Tom, I want all the experience I can get—every advantage I can have going into a fight with a guy like Jon Jones,” Holland answered. “I want Jones to be so scared of me, instead of me being scared of him, that there’s nothing he can do. Jon Jones has proven he can sit out for a long time and still f— somebody up! I don’t want to sit down for a long time and become a supreme athlete. I want to keep going and do my thing.”
Jones returned to the octagon to face and defeat Stipe Moicic after almost a year-long hiatus. Before his win, he had teased retirement, but he quickly changed his mind and later revealed that he was open to relinquishing the title to face Alex Pereira. For now, however, he must first take on Aspinall before moving on to any opponent of his choosing.
