UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has made multiple comments about retiring in the past. However, he seems pretty serious about it now.
The pound-for-pound fighter further reiterated his decision at a public appearance on Saturday. Sitting with Clocked n’ Loaded, Jones discussed his feelings towards the fight and his plan for the future. “I feel great, yeah, I feel really, really good. I’m about 250 pounds, lean and strong.”
It’s going to be the last time,” Jones said. “More than likely.”
“Bones” captured a vacant heavyweight title with a dominant win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023 and hasn’t fought since. He and Miocic were initially scheduled to fight in November 2023, but an injury to Jones pushed the bout back a year.
In Jones’ absence, British star Tom Aspinall became interim heavyweight champion after scoring a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovichat at UFC 295. Aspinall has already defended his share of the heavyweight crown, defeating Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 this past July.
For months, Jon Jones and Aspinall have been discussing the possible fight in interviews and on social media. Jones insists that the only thing set in stone is that he is fighting Miocic, who holds the record for three consecutive successful UFC heavyweight title defences. UFC DEO Dana White has also baulked at the suggestion that Jones should prioritise a unification bout with Aspinall over the recently announced UFC 309 headliner.
Despite these hesitations about a bout between champion and interim, Aspinall plans on attending the Jones vs Miocic bout. The British star wants to be a backup for the title bout and has been pretty vocal about this.
“In my opinion, it should not be two champions in one weight division. I think that is silly,” Aspinall said. “This is not what UFC is about. This is not what MMA is about. There’s one guy in each weight division, and I believe it’s me.”
“So I’ll be fighting the winner. I will be there if they need me. I’ll be fit and ready. I’m training right now. I’m ready to go. I’ll be ready to go on Nov. 16 if I need to. MSG is the place where I won the title, I’ll go back there and I’ll unify the title there as well if I need to.”
The 37-year-old set the record for the youngest fighter to win a UFC title when he defeated Shogun Rua to become a light heavyweight champion at just 23 years old. He defended the light heavyweight title 11 times, including defences from 2011 to 2015.
In 29 pro bouts, Jones only has one loss via disqualification and never dropped the title in the cage. However, he lost it twice: His first run ended when he was stripped of the belt due to his involvement in an April 2015 hit-and-run that violated the promotion’s athlete conduct policy, and his second was voluntarily vacated amid a contract dispute with White and the UFC in May 2020 and a subsequent move up to heavyweight.
