At this point in his career, Jon Jones wants to build a legacy. When journalist Kevin lole interviewed Bones days ahead of his UFC 309 bout against Stipe Miocic, Jones said, “If there were to be a fight with a guy from UFC roster that would be not only financially worth-it but legacy worth-it, it would be Alex Pereira.” Just to convince you to see how serious Jones was about Pereira, let’s just say he was willing to vacate the championship for a version of BMF championship. But, fans want to see Bones square off with Honey Badger.

And soon enough, CEO Dana White joined the same tune, “He’s not fighting Pereira.”
And soon enough, Jon Jones is no longer completely dismissing a UFC heavyweight title unification bout with Tom Aspinall!

Surprise, surprise! UFC must pay him “f–k you money” for it. This came from Bones at the UFC 309 post-show press conference: “I just don’t like him and at the end of the day, if I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated-I want to say it, I want that ‘f–k you’ money, honestly. That’s just what it is. Or else my life is perfect without him. I don’t need him at all and he needs me and that’s a good place to be in a negotiation.”

And insider Brendan Schaub just put a price tag on it.

“He doesn’t need to beat Aspinall to be considered the greatest of all time, and that’s the advantage Jon has,” Brendan Schaub stated on ‘The Fighter and The Kid’ podcast. “He made six [million] for this. So, I bet he’s going to ask for like 15 to 20 mil. It’ll be the biggest UFC heavyweight title fight of all time. They could do it at the Wembley Stadium. They could do it anywhere they want but you gotta pay him that. 

“Make the rest of the card trash. Make it whatever you want to do. Make it b-llsh-t. And have that main event or just pay them the money. F-ck everybody else! Just pay them the money. I don’t even need the other fights… Because UFC’s gonna have to bend the knee to Jon in order for him to fight this young line that Jon doesn’t need on his resume. That’s how it goes!”

Jon Jones’ base salary for the Stipe Miocic fight was $6,29,2000. That makes it the third highest paid fight as per The Sportster and Bet MGM. While Conor McGregor is still marginally ahead of Jones on this list with his base salary of $6,812,374 in the Eddie Alvarez fight in the UFC 205, if Jones’ ask for the 15-20 million base salary materializes, that will Surpass the Notorious with a huge margin. Not to forget, Jones has already crossed the base salaries of some of McGregor’s fights earlier. Take a look.

Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz (2) at UFC 202: $5,615,490

Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 196: $5,576,315

Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 264: $5,011,000

However, it might be difficult to dethrone McGregor completely when it comes to paycheque. Remember his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC 229? The Dagestani and McGregor took home historically large disclosed paydays for their title fight.

The Nevada Athletic Commission released the event’s finalized salary information MMA Fighting. Khabib defeated McGregor via fourth-round submission to retain his lightweight championship. In the fight that many believe will end up being the highest-selling MMA fight of all-time, Nurmagomedov banked $2 million purse with no win bonus, while McGregor took home a record-tying $3 million purse with no win bonus in the losing effort.

Interestingly, Jones is not new to asking for a hefty price for the fights. Dana White, on multiple occasions has mentioned that Jones wanted $30 million for the Francis Ngannou fight. It was because of this Derrick Lewis got the title shot against Ngannou in 2021. Amid all these, Tom Aspinall doesn’t seem too worried about it. The English star claims that there have been positive indications about his fight against Jon Jones after UFC 309.

Tom Aspinall reveals Dana White’s non-verbal message about the Jon Jones fight after UFC 309

Jon Jones didn’t acknowledge the interim champion during his post-fight speech following his win over Stipe Miocic. However, he did mention that he’s looking to see if he can give the fans the fight that they want, which may allude to the title-unifying bout against Tom Aspinall. Jones would later appear at the press conference and maintain his stance on that big fight, but Aspinall claimed that during Jones’ UFC 309 post-fight speech, Dana White locked eyes with him in Madison Square Garden, and winked at him, indicating that the CEO is trying to make this fight come to fruition.

“I’ll tell you a bit of an exclusive news right here on TNT Sports. I was getting a few nods and winks [from] the bosses when Jon Jones was talking about the next fight. That means a lot to me, and not only that, I spoke to [the] UFC brass this week. Both guys [the matchmakers] were talking about – ‘this is going to be the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history – absolutely no doubt about it’. Potentially, one of the biggest fights in UFC history,” Aspinall told ‘TNT Sports’.

What do you think? Will a hefty payout do the trick for Dana White to bring Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall into reality? Let us know in the comments down below.