Tom Aspinall 'Well Bored' of Jon Jones Discussion, Ready to Move On if Necessary

Though it might not always seem like it, Tom Aspinall is an admirer of Jon Jones’ body of work.

That is at least part of the reason that the Englishman has been so determined in his pursuit of a fight against the current UFC heavyweight champion.

“I think Jon is amazing at MMA,” Aspinall said on the High Performance podcast. “You can never be a complete UFC fighter. It’s impossible. That’s one of the things that draws me to the sport so much because you’re constantly chasing perfection — but you’re never gonna get it. No one’s ever gonna be the perfect, complete fighter. But Jon, in my opinion, if you look at his body of work over the last 15 years, he’s as close to perfection as you can get as possible.

“That being said, he’s got a lot of miles on the clock and he’s fighting one of the most concussive punchers in UFC history. I just think I can exploit it. I think to get out the way of me for 25 minutes, at this point in his career, without getting hit once — and that’s all I need is one — that’s going to be very difficult for anybody.”

While he believes age, power and speed is on his side, Aspinall acknowledged that Jones’ long history of title fights and main events will be his greatest advantage.

“He’s got a lot more experience than I do. He knows how to stay in there. He’s fought guys similar to me before. He’s had plenty [of] massive fight experience, where I’ve only main evented in the UFC four or five times now,” Aspinall said. “He’s done that for the last 15 years. Being in those high pressure situations and those massive fights, and if you’ve been there a lot of times before in comparison to someone like me … it does make a big difference. I’m completely aware of that. But that’s where he has the advantage is the experience.”

Aspinall has been the UFC’s interim heavyweight king since November 2023, when he stopped Sergei Pavlovich in the opening frame at Madison Square Garden. Jones was initially supposed to face Stipe Miocic on that same UFC 295 card but was forced to withdraw from the event after suffering a torn pectoral. When “Bones” was recovered, he insisted on a legacy fight against Miocic — event though Aspinall held the interim belt. After he made relatively easy work of Miocic at UFC 309 this past November, Jones suggested that it would take an extremely lucrative offer from the promotion to get him to accept a fight against Aspinall.

Thus far, there doesn’t seem to be much progress on a date for that fight, though UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly expressed confidence that it will eventually come to fruition.

“Me, personally, I can’t do anything. I just think it’s down to money on his side. I will fight whenever, wherever he wants — but it’s down to money I think,” Aspinall said.

“I just think that at this stage in his career, he’s had an amazing career, I just think that he’s like 37, 38 years old, but not only that, he’s got a million miles on the clock. So he’s got a lot of damage on the body, he’s [taken] a lot of shots to the head. And that’s not me saying anything negative about that. That’s the reality of it, and I’m sure Jon Jones is aware of that.”

While Aspinall has been quite vocal on social media and in interviews regarding his desire for the Jones fight, even he has grown weary of the chase. During the interview on the podcast, he alluded to an upcoming meeting with UFC brass regarding a “plan” for the division. Aspinall has not fought since last July, and he’s ready to put his talents to work again — whether it’s against Jones or someone else.

“I’m well bored of it. I’ve had enough,” Aspinall said. “I think we either need to fight, or I need to move on to something else.”