What’s the biggest fight to make in the UFC currently? Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus Du Plessis? Jack Della Maddalena vs. Kamaru Usman? According to Dana White, it’s the heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. It’s been a minute since ‘Honey Badger’ clinched the interim title (and defended it). It’s also been a minute since Aspinall first started rallying for the Jon Jones fight. For his part, ‘Bones’ has taken every opportunity to slight the interim champion, and deny him the title unification bout. It’s safe to say that Jones has a lot to lose fighting Aspinall. And amid this tug of war, Joe Rogan had a truth bomb to drop.
During the UFC 312 JRE Fight Companion, Rogan sat down together with Matt Serra, Bryan Callen, and Brendan Schaub, to watch and discuss the fights in Australia. And in that conversation, Rogan made a remark about the thinning heavyweight division. He said, “Man, heavyweight division is so shallow. I was just thinking that the other day because if they don’t make Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall, what is compelling?”
But the 57-year-old podcaster thought of a plan to mitigate the abysmality of the heavyweight division’s status. He suggested that the only thing that could save the UFC heavyweight division was if Dana White threw his pride away and got the former heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, back into the UFC roster. He said, “Unless they bring Francis back, unless the PFL collapses and he gets released…”
Of course, things can’t get more exciting than witnessing the battle between Jones and Ngannou inside the Octagon. After all, every single fight fan dreamt of that bout ever since Jones’ move to the heavyweight realm was announced. But all Rogan wished for was to see a good, entertaining fight in the HW category.
Even though Joe Rogan is all up for a fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, he understands that ‘Bones’ is free to do whatever he wants. And that also involves walking away and vacating his title. But that doesn’t mean he can ask for an unreasonably high amount of money to fight ‘Honey Badger’. Let’s see what Rogan had to say about the issue regarding the Jones-Aspinall bout.
Joe Rogan addresses the anomalies of Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall
Earlier in December 2024, the JRE host addressed Jones’ words of threatening to leave the heavyweight division to fight Alex Pereira in the light heavyweight realm. Well, that was the fight that seemed to excite Jones more than Aspinall. Weighing in on this, Rogan said, “If Tom Aspinall is the interim heavyweight champion and Jon Jones decides to step away from fighting, he can do that. He could take a year off, return, and still fight for the title. He has that freedom.”
No doubt, other prominent figures in the MMA world agreed with Rogan, including Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping. But when it came to Jones asking for “f— you money”, he stood against the notion. He said, “I had heard a rumor that Jon Jones wanted $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall—and I did hear that rumor. And I did hear the UFC said yes, but it is not true. So Dana contacted me and said that rumor was b——. So I felt obligated to tell everybody that was a fake rumor.”
Setting the rumors aside, things seem like they’re moving toward Aspinall vs. Jones becoming a reality. Dana White has promised that it’s the fight to make, touting it as potentially “the greatest fight in UFC history”. All we can do as fans now is wait and watch the story unfold. We can be sure of one thing, however – the moment these heavyweights collide, it’d be nothing short of a war.
What are your thoughts on the matchup between Aspinall and Jones? Do you think the UFC big guns should schedule the fight for International Fight Week? Let us know what you think of the matchup in the comments down below.
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