The numbers don’t lie—and they’re now leaning toward Tom Aspinall. While Jon Jones remains the official UFC heavyweight champion, the court of popular opinion appears to be moving. What began as murmurs of frustration has become much louder. And now, social media patterns are beginning to reflect that. The fans started voting—not with chants, but with the unfollow button.
The Briton’s rise is more than just victories inside the cage. Over the previous six months, he has gained roughly 300,000 new Instagram followers. That’s more than 20% of his overall base of 1.4 million followers, a significant increase that suggests growing support from the MMA community and beyond.
Compare that to Jon Jones, who, despite having a significantly greater number of followers, has lost 87,000 followers in the same time frame. That may not seem like much for a man with 9.4 million followers, but it is not insignificant either, especially when momentum is clearly building in the opposite corner.
According to the data provided by RedCornerMMA, Jon Jones’ steady decline began earlier this year, with approximately 3,600 people unfollowing him in the last month. The decline was gradual but consistent: from 9.55 million to 9.45 million.
Meanwhile, ‘Honeybadger’ increased from 1.2 to 1.46 million and at one point reached 1.6 million. It reveals who is on the rise and who is losing popularity. The reason? Simple. Tom Aspinall has been chasing a fight. Jones has been running in circles. And trust us when we tell you that this has not gone unnoticed.
Despite being the undisputed champion, Jon Jones’ legacy talk and confusing messages about whether or not he will meet Tom Aspinall in the Octagon have become tiresome. A fan petition to strip him of the belt has already received 193,000 signatures and is still going up in numbers. And now, people are leaving his corner online, too.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship takes pride in putting the best against the best. However, as long as this bout is in limbo, the narrative continues to shift. Aspinall is hungry and rising. ‘Bones,’ for all of his accomplishments, is starting to feel more like a placeholder than a champion.
The longer this goes on, the more obvious it seems that fans aren’t simply taking sides; they’ve already done so. In fact, even fighters are taking his side.
UFC fighters turn their backs on Jon Jones
The fans aren’t the only ones driving this shift in momentum. It’s also spreading inside the cage. More and more fighters—some still active, some long retired—have begun to come out, not only in support of Tom Aspinall but also in frustration with Jon Jones.
It’s no longer simply about the delayed battle; it’s about what that delay is beginning to represent. The more Jones stalls, the more his peers seem to view it as something deeper than strategy. Curtis Blaydes, who knows the heavyweight waters better than most, did not hesitate to express what many people are thinking.
Despite Dana White’s claim that Jones has agreed to the fight “in principle,” Blaydes does not believe it will ever materialize. “I do believe that’ll probably go to Gane because I don’t think Jon’s ever going to fight Aspinall,” he said. His explanations were not personal insults; they were reality checks.
Blaydes pointed out that Jones hadn’t really faced a prime heavyweight, claiming that Ciryl Gane had obvious grappling flaws and Stipe Miocic was just past his peak. Even more damning was his willingness to give Jones an out: “If Jon were to beat Tom, we would all be like, ‘OK, he legitimately is the GOAT’… and even if he lost, bro, we get it. You’re old. You’re not a real heavyweight. It’s OK. You can lose.”
Alexander Volkanovski, never one to sugarcoat things, shared a similar perspective. “If you’re the champ, you defend your belt—it’s a responsibility,” he stated, adding that legacy should not be used to freeze a division.
Volk’s sentiments were delivered with a kind of hesitant honesty: admiration for Jones’ resume, but also annoyance that brilliance does not entitle someone to avoid conflicts. “If you don’t want to fight, just retire. You’re done.” That is the loud and clear message from fans, fighters, and the heart of the sport.
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