Well, there you have it.
Ten or so months after interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall declared that he would retire Jon Jones without ever evening fighting him, his prediction came true over the weekend when it was confirmed by Dana White and Jones himself that the longtime former light heavyweight champion and (now former) heavyweight titleholder was formally stepping away from mixed martial arts.
Jones’ decision finally adds some clarity to the top of the heavyweight ladder, with Aspinall now upgraded to the undisputed champion and vowing to actively defend his crown against all comers — and after Dana White had previously said that he was “100 percent” confident that the much hyped Jones-Aspinall clash would happen in 2025.
And speaking to the media, including The Mac Life, this past weekend, White said that Jones had initially accepted a big money offer to fight Aspinall, likely in Madison Square Garden in November, before Jones ultimately changed his mind and decided to retire.
“He called us and just started saying, ‘you know what, I think I’m done, I want to retire,” said White. “He was absolutely, positively sure that he wanted to retire and we said why don’t you sleep on it, if you wake up in the morning if that’s how you still feel.
“We had the fight done,” White added. “You saw me talking about it very confidently that this fight was going to happen and he changed his mind. The fight was done. We had the fight done a long time ago. Why he decided not to fight, you guys will have to ask him that.”
However, White was keen to add that Jones’ apparent reluctance to fight Aspinall was not down to him avoiding the Briton, seen by many as being the most stern test to Jones in the cage in many years.
“I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again, he’s never ducked anybody,” White explained. “Other than that one goofy time with the Chael Sonnen thing, he’s never ducked anybody. I think the reality is whatever changed his mind with this fight, I don’t know you’d have to ask him that but he’s 38 years old and I don’t know.
“Our job is to make the biggest fights we can make and the fights that the fans want to see and that’s what we try to do. But the minute somebody starts talking about retirement, you know my philosophy on that, you should do it.”
