The current UFC scenario has fans calling for that one big heavyweight fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. Dana White seems to be interested in unifying the title, believing it to be the biggest fight to make right now. However, former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley doesn’t see the Jones vs Aspinall fight as a record-breaking pay-per-view draw.
During a debate regarding this potential heavyweight showdown, Tim Welch was surprised to hear a negative response when he asked Sean O’Malley, “Like Jon Jones-Aspinall wouldn’t hit near the [biggest] numbers?” The former champion simply replied, “No. I don’t think so.” Well, ‘Suga’ seems to have the expertise when it comes to drawing big gates because he headlined the highest-grossing single UFC event of all time with UFC 306, although the Sphere was the main attraction that night. “It’s gonna hit anywhere near f***ing Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul did,” the former champion further stated.
But what about PPV numbers then? Surely, Dana White’s confidence would make ‘Suga’ believe that it could be the biggest of all time? Well, that title belongs to Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, according to O’Malley. “Maybe [it’s] the biggest [fight] with the last five years, but it’s not gonna be bigger than Conor vs Floyd… I don’t think it’ll be the biggest pay-per-view. No way,” Sean O’Malley added.
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So is the fight between Jones and Aspinall even worth making for Dana White? For the sake of his company’s integrity, and the fans’ – absolutely yes! But what about Jon Jones? Is inclined to make the ‘biggest heavyweight fight of all time against’ Tom Aspinall? He might have to, according to a UFC insider.
Jon Jones only has two choices with fighting Tom Aspinall
Jon Jones claims to be looking for random fights, giving a shout-out to the likes of Jamahal Hill and Derrick Lewis. However, MMA legend Chael Sonnen seems to believe that those random fights are out of the question. Dana White, according to ‘The American Gangster’, has offered two choices to the two-weight champ, which is, of course, fight Tom Aspinall, or call it a career. Even when Alex Pereira‘s name popped up, with Jones calling it a ‘legacy fight’, the UFC CEO shot that down pretty quickly, and even ridiculed the idea of that fight.
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“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 stated on the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show.
Whether Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall go on to shatter pay-per-view records or not, we’ll only get that answer if these two officially sign the contract to get inside the Octagon. What do you think about the potential financial outcome of his heavyweight clash? Let us know in the comments down below.
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Is Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall the fight to save UFC's heavyweight division from mediocrity?
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