Jon Jones had told everyone that he would probably retire after defeating Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. But that didn’t happen. Instead, ‘Bones’ floated an Alex Pereira fight, and even acquiesced to considering a Tom Aspinall fight for ‘f**k you money’. But the Aspinall fight may really be the last hurrah for Jones, at least that is what Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier think.

“If you wanted my boldest prediction of 2025, I’m actually very confident in the prediction and that is that Jon Jones retires. I will tell you that Jon Jones is gonna fight Tom Aspinall. I will tell you Jon’s gonna do a lot better with Tom than some people are giving him credit for. When that fight is done, win or lose, I do believe it will be Jon’s final appearance,” Sonnen told co-host Cormier on their ‘Good Guy/ Bad Guy Show’.

Cormier agreed and felt that the GOAT contender had already set the stage for his eventual retirement after the Aspinall fight. After all, the Aspinall clash is the first fight in forever that Jones has opened as the betting underdog. The English interim champ, after all, is a generational talent, is young, hungry, and has all the attributes required to beat Jones. This is why if Jones beats him, he would cement himself as the undisputed GOAT for many.

“That’s a pretty bold prediction Chael, and honestly, that doesn’t seem too farfetched. You’re right, you can always see when a guy starts to lay the foundation for ‘Hey guys it’s about time for life without me.’ And it feels like Jonny is doing that,” the former dual champ added. Like Daniel Cormier, most fans will not have any issues with Sonnen’s prediction. However, his other prediction is far more controversial.

Chael Sonnen is bullish about Bo Nickal becoming champ shortly

Bo Nickal is one of the most hyped prospects the UFC has ever seen. After all, the Penn State alum, with his three D1 wrestling titles, a National Championship, and an Under-23 World Championship was wrestling royalty already by the time he entered the UFC. Since then, however, his hype train has been derailed quite a bit.

A large part of it may be because of just how high the expectations of him are, and the fact that the UFC did kinda try to shove him down fans’ throats by having him fight on main cards. And that too over many other bigger, more deserving stars who had to be content with the undercard. Then there are his recent performances.

Nickal is still undefeated, but his past couple of fights against unranked older fighters past their primes have been quite underwhelming. But, Sonnen is still confident that the American will become champion soon- not within 2025, but still pretty soon. “By the end of 2025, I believe that Bo Nickal is going to rise to the top. I do not know if the calendar year will quite give him an opportunity, I think he needs 16 months to actually find the belt,” ‘The Bad Guy’ predicted.

A fair few fans will disagree with Sonnen. After all, Nickal has failed to deliver against the level of competition he has already fought. And there are huge questions about how he will do against some of the ranked guys, let alone the top fighters in the division. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s predictions for 2025?