While Tom Aspinall continues his wait on Jon Jones, UFC veteran Matt Brown advises the interim champion to move on.
Weeks have turned into months as Aspinall continues to wait for his unification bout with Jon Jones, and many have begun to wonder if the matchup will ever come to fruition.
While Dana White has assured fans that the bout will take place, UFC legend Matt Brown has his doubts and says Tom Aspinall should fight someone else rather than wait so he doesn’t end up repeating the same mistake Michael Chandler did.
“I look at that just like the [Michael] Chandler situation with Conor [McGregor]. Just go fight, bro,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Keep your name out there and keep showing that you are the man to fight him. Build your legacy. Keep your name out in the news, showing the world that you’re the guy that should be fighting him.
“If it’s true, then your case is going to get stronger and stronger. If you’re sitting on the sidelines, it doesn’t really help your case as much.”
In UFC fighter Michael Chandler’s case, he waited for two years to face Conor McGregor, and during that time, he was inactive.
He put his career on hold and was quite confident in his decision, as he received several reassurances from the UFC despite McGregor’s lack of enthusiasm to return. Chandler recently came out of his hiatus to face Charles Oliveira and Paddy Pimblett, but he lost the fight.
Brown believes that inactivity is a fighter’s worst enemy. And while he understands what a potential showdown against Jones—who is arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history—can mean, he also knows Aspinall gains nothing by just holding out hope that the fight might happen.
“I just come from a different school [of thought],” Brown explained. “Maybe it’s an old-school thing—just me personally. When I was fighting, or what I would suggest for others to do, is go ahead and fight as much as you can, fight the best guys you can, and see how things work out.
“That’s not always the best way to go about business and not necessarily the best way to make money, but look, you only live once. You’re going to [look back] at 50 or 60 years old, retired, and be like, ‘That whole year I was out or the two years I was out—I wish I would have fought.’ I think about stuff like that.
“That’s why I would advise something like that. But I totally get the business side, too. You’ve got to get the biggest fight you can and not take all the risk to get there necessarily.”
Due to his long time away from the octagon and the postponement of his bout with Aspinall, many have called for Jones to be stripped of his title. But he’s currently only been out of action for six months, so it seems unlikely the UFC would take the belt away from him.
“They’re not going to strip him either,” Brown said. “I wish there was just a rule set in stone. Like if you don’t defend in this amount of time, you’re stripped. That’s the way it should be. Unfortunately, it’s just up to the PR guys and Dana [White], and I’m sure they sit down and have meetings and talk about it. There’s just no standard. No guidelines.
“We’re all living in the UFC’s world, and it just kind of goes the way they want it to go. You could make an argument either way—whether he should be stripped or not—but ultimately the UFC just decides. The argument is almost irrelevant.”
Rather than wait on Jones, Brown advises Aspinall to fight, as he has a plethora of options available. On the other hand, the same can’t be said for Jones. Brown argues the biggest factor working in Aspinall’s favor right now is that if the UFC heavyweight champion ever fights again, there’s only one fight in his future—and that’s it.
“As long as he fights Aspinall, if he keeps fighting,” Brown said about Jones. “However long he waits—we can talk about that game all day—but if he comes back and fights again, it just has to be Tom Aspinall. I don’t think we’re going to really respect any other fight than Tom Aspinall at this point.
“That’s kind of the situation we’re in. You are stuck with Tom Aspinall if you’re going to keep fighting. Some people are saying he’s ducking or whatever—well, if he was ducking him, we’re going to find out, because there’s no other fight out there.”
Aspinall, on the other hand , is finding it difficult to continue waiting.He revealed he might not wait any more as he is open to fighting anybody.
