Tom Aspinall has accepted he is nearing the territory of needing to “move on” from a fight with Jon Jones, as a heavyweight unification bout continues to elude the Briton.
Aspinall has held the interim UFC title since November 2023 and even retained it in July 2024, without getting the chance to challenge Jones, who holds the regular belt.
In fact, Jones, 37, has said numerous times that he does not want to face Aspinall, 32. And the latter is running out of patience.
The Wigan heavyweight addressed the topic of a fight with Jones while speaking on The High Performance Podcast, and though it is possible the conversation was filmed in March, Aspinall said: “Me personally, I can’t do anything. I think it’s just down to money, on his side. I will fight whenever, wherever he wants, but it’s down to money, I think.
“I just think that at this stage in his career, he’s had an amazing career. I just think that he’s 37, 38, but he’s got a million miles on the clock. He’s got a lot of damage on the body, he’s taken a lot of shots to the head. That’s not me saying anything negative about him, that’s the reality of it, and I’m sure Jon is aware of that.
“When you put him in with… and I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I’m literally the most dangerous guy in the UFC, if you look at the stats. When you put him in with a guy of my size who has those credentials, at this stage in his career, I think Jon is a smart guy and he realises that he wants to be compensated financially for it.
“I’m well bored of it, I’ve had enough. We either need to fight or I need to move on, do something else.”
Jones last fought in November, stopping heavyweight great Stipe Miocic with an impressive spinning back kick. That bout took place 12 months after it was initially due to, after Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle in October 2023.
Following Jones’s injury, Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich clashed over the interim title in November 2023, with the Briton winning via first-round knockout. He then defended the interim belt in July 2024, in a rare move, knocking out Curtis Blaydes to retain the gold in Manchester. That result, and Jones’s win over Miocic, should have set up a heavyweight unification bout, yet it continues to elude Aspinall.
Prior to Jones winning the heavyweight belt in March 2023, the American was a two-time light-heavyweight champion, and he is deemed the consensus greatest fighter in the division’s history.
