The Conversations about Jon Jones taking up Tom Aspinall as his next have been making circles for some time now. Last year at the Arnold Sports Festival in Birmingham, Aspinall showed his interest in going against the heavyweight champ. And it made sense! Being the interim champion, Aspinall would be the right person to go against the one he just might one day become. But remember how smartly Jones stepped back? However, it was enough spark for the MMA world to dream of this showdown with the two bests going against each other, one trying to make a point and another trying to defend his title. But just as the heat in the heavyweight division was turning down, Dana White, UFC CEO, turned it back up before the UFC 309 fight between Jones and Stipe Miocic. Standing between the two stars, White answered to the question coming from the crowd,

“Will the winner fight Tom?” without skipping a beat, “The winner should absolutely fight Tom!” The crowd erupted in the chants of “Tommy, Tommy!” as all Jones and Miocic could do was smile at the enthusiasm. Maybe, we would have seen a match between Miocic and Aspinall if he would have won. However, without letting the rust affect him, Jon took down Miocic in third round TKO, defending his heavyweight title, and of course, ignoring the fight with the interim titleholder Aspinall we all wanted to see by simply saying in November last year, “Me and Dana (White) and Hunter (Campbell) have never sat down and talked about Tom Aspinall. He’s never been on my radar.” Any more ducking accusations for him? Still, White did not let it go, in the postgame presser that very day, he brought the bout up again. Not just bring it up, he sold it! “It would be the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history, by a long shot.”

Fast forward to present, he again promised the fans on an Instagram Live session, “It’s coming. Relax.” But all this time, Jon Jones has been fighting personal fights like medical insurance companies for transparency. Now, he has made a statement, maybe to Aspinall or his wanted Alex Pereira or just his fans in general and solved all the complicated uncertainties with just three words.

And now, 11 months later, the heavyweight champion found his way back to YoungLA event and posted his time there on his Instagram. The video showed him meeting fans, chanting the brand name, praying, dancing with people in Marvel’s Hulk costume, having a great time overall. However, what took everyone’s attention was his caption to the post. The very friendly and light-mood post had a caption that read, “I’ll be back.” That’s it! That’s all he had to say!

While now this caption could very well be his wish to return to the event, but maybe, just maybe, it was to the MMA world and his fans waiting for his return. He has already said that he will have one more fight while his retirement conversations loomed. And maybe, the caption hinted at his return to the Octagon for a showdown that White very confidently called, “the biggest fight we’ve ever done.”

But there were more talks in between. Whispers made rounds about Jones training with potential future opponent and current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira to prepare for Aspinall. That no longer seems like it will happen. The landscape seems to have shifted for ‘Poatan’ ahead of his upcoming UFC 313 title defense against Magomed Ankalaev.

The 205 lbs champion told ‘Bloody Elbow’ yesterday, “To be honest, I don’t think that makes as much sense anymore. Back when I said that I would like to fight at heavyweight, people already put the dots together and basically mentioned Jon Jones. That’s something that is speculated, even if it’s just by the fans. So I wouldn’t want to go and train with him now, and then if we end up fighting, people will start saying a bunch of stuff about whatever in the fight. I think it wouldn’t make sense now, but if we were to fight one day and then go train, I think it would make total sense.”

We are not sure if Pereira, who Jones has been calling him out for a champ vs champ fight, would take the offer. For now, turns out, even he wants the first-row tickets to the Jones-Aspinall show. Talking to Bloody Elbow, he further posed his thoughts on the anticipated matchup, “I won’t necessarily be studying the fight, but I’d watch it closely. Obviously, any heavyweight fight is already exciting, and then you put in Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. I think that’s a very exciting fight, so I’ll be watching closely, but as a fan.”

We all remember the happenings of the 2024 Arnold’s Sports Festival, right? That was the day when we saw Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall run into each other for the first time, in Birmingham. There was something very interesting that Aspinall recounted after their meeting. On ‘The MMA Hour’ in April 2024, Aspinall said, “I wanted to face off. Jon’s smart, you know? … Jon will not say anywhere — you can’t find it, it’s not out there — that he will fight me. He won’t say it anywhere publicly. He won’t say it. You can’t find a clip, a quote, nothing, anywhere, of Jon Jones saying, ‘One day I’m going to fight Tom Aspinall, and I’m going to freaking beat the brakes off him… That doesn’t exist. He doesn’t want any evidence, anywhere, of him agreeing to any kind of fight with me, because he doesn’t want to go back on that. He doesn’t want to do a face-off because that promotes a potential fight.”

Jones even brushed Aspinall’s hands off his shoulder when the Brit attempted for a friendly face-off – a photo for the fans maybe.

With the focus now diverted towards the matchup between Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones, let’s see where the fighters currently stand. Well, this time, the judgment came from someone who actually defeated Aspinall previously when they fought under the banner of BAMMA. It’s indeed Stuart Austin, who weighed in on the matchup between Jones and Aspinall. But who would win as per Austin?

Tom Aspinall’s former rival weighs in on his fight against Jon Jones

In a recent conversation with TalkSport, Austin pointed out that Aspinall’s wrestling was something that was yet to be tested in the Octagon. Back in 2015, Austin won against his fellow Englishman with his superior wrestling skills. But now, Aspinall has been working on those shortcomings and building himself up step-by-step. Austin said, “I think clinch and wrestling would probably be the way to go for Jon, because if he strikes with Aspinall, I think there’s only one person going to win that fight.”

While Jones could indeed test Aspinall’s ground game, there was a humongous problem in front of the heavyweight champion. Aspinall had speed, power, and accuracy that made him an even dangerous opponent to go up against. But can ‘Bones’ stay strong against that? Austin had an answer, “So maybe Jon could test the deep waters, try and take him a little bit further. But again, maybe you don’t have that as a choice. I’m sure everyone’s tried to take him a little bit further. He’s an amazing martial artist. You know, he really is the best heavyweight right now.” 

Well, we do have to wait and watch till the fight actually happens before we can celebrate a victor. But one thing is for certain. We are en route for a breathtaking performance by both Aspinall and Jones, if the two clashed against each other at the International Fight Week, don’t you agree?

As for Aspinall himself, he is work mode, ready to take on the icon head-on. Talking to MMA Weekly in January, he mentioned, “Yeah, I’m just training now. I’m just training and getting everything focused to be as fit and ready as I possibly can. Who knows? They might spring the [Jon Jones fight] date on me [quickly]. Or they might say the dates going to be in six months, I don’t know. That’s always what kind of happens between fights anyway. You never really know when your next one is.

“So, I’m just preparing now. There’s no date set [but] there’s an opponent there. So, we’re just getting fit really. Getting fit, getting back into it, getting the body ready, getting the mind all in sync towards the next opponent and towards the next date, and waiting to find out when that is. I should imagine I’m going to find out in the next couple of weeks.”

What do you think of Jones’ appearance at Arnold’s Sports Festival? Do you think it will affect his performance against Aspinall? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.