Jon Jones was pretty open about not fighting Tom Aspinall, during UFC 309 fight week, and even said that taking on the Englishman does nothing for his legacy. For good reason too, because if he loses to Aspinall, two things happen; he risks a blemish on his virtually spotless record, and fans will not let him hear the end of it. Nevertheless, he had put forth a condition to fight the Britisher, and that is for Dana White and Co. to pay him serious money. While many netizens have been criticizing Jones, accusing him of ducking Tom Aspinall, an unlikely ally in a past rival, Francis Ngannou showed some unexpected support for Jones’ demand.

Not too long ago, the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion said, “I want to be so compensated – I want to say it, I want that ‘f–k you’ money, honestly.” After all, Aspinall is the biggest threat to Jones’ legacy at this point. He claimed that his life was perfect without him with even his coach, Brandon Gibson, sharing a similar mindset. In Jones’ books, it probably is the smartest thing to do. And if negotiations with White and Hunter Campbell don’t go as per his plans, ‘Bones’ won’t hesitate to walk away from the promotion. Needless to say, this created quite an uproar in the fighting community. However, ‘The Predator’ swooped in to defend Jones and expose Aspinall’s weak spot.

The Cameroonian fighter, in an interview with TMZ, said, “[Jon Jones] is in a position to pick what he wants. As he said, ‘Aspinall needs that fight, I don’t need it,’ and when you look at it, [it’s] pretty much true… There’s nothing more that he’s going to [gain] in that fight other than money. But for Aspinall, [who] is someone coming and trying to cement his way in the division, that would be everything.”. In essence, the weakness of Aspinall that Ngannou is trying to highlight is the fact that Jones has the negotiating power in this situation, and the Englishman is at the mercy of ‘Bones’ and the UFC for this fight to happen.

Nevertheless, it looks like fans may actually get the much-anticipated heavyweight title unification bout. After all, Dana White himself announced that the winner of the UFC 309 headliner would fight Tom Aspinall. Amid all the chatter and possible negotiations, Jones is back in the gym training, days after finishing Stipe Miocic. With this development, it seems like the UFC HW champ has plans for fighting in the future. 

Jon Jones reveals his plans for 2025 amid negotiations for Tom Aspinall fight

During a conversation with ‘The Schmo’ at Mike Perry’s Dirty Boxing Championship, Jon Jones said, “So, right now, the UFC and I, we’re in negotiations. We’re in talks to see what happens next. I’m back in the gym; I’m training; I feel really great. The team supports me, and they’re behind me. We’ll just be ready for whatever opportunity comes our way.” Does this mean the champ will return to fight in 2025? According to ‘Bones’, it seems likely – “Yes, yes, I will be competing in 2025, more than likely.”

On top of that, Tom Aspinall raised the entropy of the fighting realm with a post on X (formerly Twitter), hinting at a big announcement coming up soon. “I’m so excited, I have lost my voice it’s gonna be a massive announcement,”, his post on X said. No doubt, fight fans expected it to be an announcement regarding his fight with Jones to unify the heavyweight belts. But it looks like we’ll have to wait some more, for further developments on this. 

Nevertheless, a fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall seems more than likely to happen next year. What do you think of Francis Ngannou’s defense of Jones demanding a huge amount of money to fight Aspinall? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.