MMA Twitter reacts to Jon Jones 'avoiding' Tom Aspinall
By Amy Kaplan
UFC heavyweight Jon Jones went on a long Twitter rant about UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Jones doesn't think Aspinall has a leg to stand on when it comes to who he fights next, and the fans don't agree.
Jones thinks that Aspinall's claim to the next title shot (and not Stipe Miocic) is out of the question, even though technically that's exactly what happens when an undisputed title returns.
Jon Jones: “you need to fight people who build your legacy”
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) January 9, 2024
Me: “great idea. Absolutely”
UFC: “do you wanna fight Tom?”
Stipe: “no”
Jon: “no”
Me: “🤔
Jon Jones (12-1) last 5 fights before getting a title shot against legend Shogun Rua (19-4, Pride GP champ, UFC champ) at UFC 128:
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 9, 2024
Ryan Bader
Vladimir Matyushenko
Brandon Vera
Matt Hamill
Jake O’Brien
Also of note: Stephan Bonnar
Tom Aspinall’s (14-3) last five fights as he…
That’s precisely how it works. The titles are supposed to be unified. Tom Aspinall is the top contender/interim champion. The rest of this is flowery language about his own career that has zero bearing or even relevance on what fights should be made. pic.twitter.com/DXHR2LIL51
— Luke Thomas🏋️♀️ (@lthomasnews) January 9, 2024
imagine being an MMA fan and being OK with a champion avoiding a compelling fight with a more-than-worthy challenger because you care about them “building their legacy”
— Alexander K Lee (@AlexanderKLee) January 9, 2024
who thinks like this??? pic.twitter.com/xM3UMcSuys
Does anyone want to guess how many “recognizable” opponents Jon Jones had when he got his title shot? I’m just saying, it wasn’t much more than four. And that was fine and made sense then, just like it would make sense for the interim champ to fight the actual champ now. pic.twitter.com/jdqBJNlCKX
— Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA) January 9, 2024
Tom Aspinall 10-8ing Jon Jones with the upmost respect possible 🤝 https://t.co/tWkbdOHBYn
— Wade Plemons (@WadePlem) January 9, 2024
Let’s be honest here… 90% of you people on MMA Twitter have only watched 3 jon Jones fights santos Reyes and Gane. It’s extremely obvious when people talk about Jon Jones on here lmao. pic.twitter.com/zlTbbHcmJw
— SickydoesMMA (@SICKYDOESMMA) January 6, 2024
Jon Jones when his opponent possess a skillset that might challenge him https://t.co/c1CoKvf863 pic.twitter.com/ZErHljAj5S
— King 🇨🇦 (@KingB_GFX) January 9, 2024
justice for tom aspinall, fuck the politics of the sport jon jones stop trying to beat up a geriatric fireman and fight the best in the world
— ok (@damienfarronMMA) January 9, 2024
Not too sure what kind of legacy your referring too buddy, but if its drunk driving and beating up females then i guess your right 😂🫣 #jonjones #tomaspinall pic.twitter.com/3CRHQEdPjo
— Frosty🇬🇷 (@FuhFuhFrosty) January 9, 2024
Even Aspinall replied to Jones' rant writing, "Jon you’re letting your ego run wild here mate. I’m not downplaying you’re résumé, it’s incredible. Far superior to mine. You are known as the best fighter ever, and that’s EXACTLY why I want to beat you. Surely you can understand that?"
He's not wrong. It should be Aspinall next, and that sucks for Miocic, but that's just the way it should be.
MMA Twitter defends Jon Jones even when they are wrong
Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. There were many fans who defended Jones.
Jon Jones doesn’t need prove nothing anymore. He is the GOAT for majority people. Faced the most toughest fighters of UFC. With all respect Tom, you are coming now, you have one significative won in your whole career.@JonnyBones @ufc @danawhite https://t.co/g5ju4s5UIL
— Ítalo Matos (@ijmmatos) January 9, 2024
Jon Jones was champion when this clown was 18 💀💀💀 https://t.co/Ft4wPytoWl
— RamoneWavy (@WavyBets) January 9, 2024
Helwani is such a cuck lol years ago he used to ride jon jones dick when it was cool. Now he tryna say he’s on equal ground wit a dude who doesn’t have a single official UFC title fight lol get fucked buddy. Hopefully by tom if ur lucky https://t.co/he3xE1QKCE
— Anonymous Ignorant Uneducated (@MOCITYDONJUAN) January 9, 2024
Jon jones with the ice cold delivery https://t.co/bOUAiBmFlt
— Mr. Matt (@tabascoisgood) January 9, 2024
The Goats
— Zak Drapeau (@DrapeauZak) January 9, 2024
Jon Jones v Tom Brady pic.twitter.com/lXNfkVAFjf
Next. A timeline of Jon Jones’ legal trouble, arrests [UPDATED]. dark