Jon Jones has shoved off Tom Aspinall’s quest to get that big fight against him. He even claims to be considering retirement after his heavyweight clash against Stipe Miocic, raining doubts and questions among fans and pundits if ‘Bones’ is apprehensive about entering the Octagon with the interim champion. Well, it seems like Francis Ngannou has given his verdict on that particular debate, and surprisingly, he defended Jones.

Francis Ngannou shared a few words of praise towards Jon Jones regarding the Tom Aspinall situation. But before he gave his verdict, he strongly urged the media gathered at the PFL presser for his upcoming fight that they should get the answer from the horse’s mouth. “I don’t know if Jon Jones is ducking Tom Aspinall. I think Jon Jones would be the best to answer that question,” Francis Ngannou stated.

Nevertheless, ‘The Predator’ has nothing but the utmost respect for Jon Jones, given his achievements and standing in mixed martial arts history, while dismissing the ducking claims. “I think Jon Jones does whatever he wants and fights who he wants. I think he’s a beast. He’s in the position to claim that,” Francis Ngannou added. Despite having that strong sense of competition with Jon Jones, which was evident when they faced off at a PFL event in the recent past, ‘The Predator’ remains humble and respectful.

However, you’d be wrong to think that this is the first time Francis Ngannou has come to Jon Jones’s aid regarding this particular situation, and guess what? The Cameroonian-French colossal echoed the same sentiment as he did during the PFL presser, stating that ‘Bones’ has the upper hand here against Tom Aspinall.

Francis Ngannou claims Jon Jones has “leverage” over Tom Aspinall

‘The Predator’ believes that Jon Jones should not be blamed for ducking Tom Aspinall and neither should anybody blame the British star for any reason. He believes the whole situation is a mess because nobody’s pointing fingers at the UFC. “Everybody is claiming what’s right, but nobody wants to blame the organization,” Francis Ngannou told ‘SHAK MMA’. He further added that Jones is in such a position, after years of amassing a one-of-a-kind MMA record, that now, he can call his shots much more easily than Aspinall.

“If I’m Jon, I want to do the fight [with Stipe Miocic]. Basically, my fight in November was canceled against Stipe and maybe that’s my retirement fight,” Ngannou added. “I don’t really want somebody to tell me which one to fight. At his point, he has a bit of leverage in that way.” Do you agree with the former UFC champion’s assessment?

Let us know what you think about the Jones-Aspinall saga in the comments down below.