It seems like Jon Jones doesn’t have the leverage he believes he has over the UFC when it comes to fighting Tom Aspinall. MMA legend Chael Sonnen recently laid out the only options that are available to the undisputed heavyweight champion, and one of them includes the choice to retire, but none of those options include fighting anyone else other than Aspinall himself.
“It is not a matter of will Jon fight Tom or Jon fight someone else. I’ll let you know the UFC’s stance. Jon has two choices – you fight Tom or you do not fight,” Chael Sonnen stated on the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show. The fact that Jon Jones talked about “random fights” during UFC 309 weekend seems to be just a dream because when he brought up Alex Pereira‘s name, claiming that he’s more established than Tom Aspinall, Dana White immediately shut that proposal down.
“There is nobody else that’s going to be offered [to Jones]. In fact, we got a name that came off the board in terms of Alex Pereira. Dana put that to absolute rest. Jon can sit out and not fight, that’s true. But he’s not going to be in a spot where he could fight someone else. It’s basically retire [or] it’s fight Tom Aspinall,” Chael Sonnen added.
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Jon Jones has already assured the fans that he’s not hanging up his gloves just yet, and after witnessing his recent posts on social media, Chael Sonnen is convinced that ‘Bones’ will ultimately have to scrap against Tom Aspinall. “Jon is not retired. I know that because he put a video on Instagram last night that said he’s already in the gym. Well, you’re in the gym and training, you’ve got only one thing to train for. Captain obvious here. Those two are going to fight,” Chael Sonnen added.
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It seems like the ball is in Dana White’s court now, and he heavily favors the Tom Aspinall fight. Moreover, the Briton is pretty confident that one opportunity is all he needs to dethrone Jon Jones.
Tom Aspinall just needs “one shot” against Jon Jones
Jon Jones’ resume speaks for itself, and some of his wins are just absolute statements because it came against some of the best fighters the UFC’s ever seen. So there’s no lack of respect on Tom Aspinall’s behalf who understands that if and when he fights ‘Bones’, it will be his most difficult opponent, by far. However, the self-proclaimed ‘Honey Badger’ believes that if that fight comes to fruition, he will knock it out of the park.
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“I’ve never fought anyone anywhere near as good as Jon. On the other side of things, I think it’s well proven in my fights, that I need one shot to change everything. And I’m pretty good at finding that one shot,” Tom Aspinall told ‘Fightful’. “Jon’s a human being just like everybody else. I’ll find that one shot on him. I know I will.”
Whether Chael Sonnen’s statements turn out to be true or not, we will definitely get a clearer picture in the coming months about the Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall situation since Dana White is fixated on making that fight happen. It has got all the eyes of the MMA fandom, so why not give it a shot?
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