There is a more intriguing story than the plot of ‘500 Days of Summer’. It’s the 500 days of Tom Aspinall remaining the interim heavyweight champion. Jon Jones returned after healing his pectoral injury to defeat Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. But what about the title unification fight? This saga continues with fans and veterans speculating on dates and specifics.
See, Dana White has said that it’s going to happen. Percentage? ‘100%’ to be exact. Jones, on the other hand, needed 6 months to prepare. And Aspinall? Well, the interim heavyweight champ was waiting, and he is getting frustrated. And now ex-UFC fighter and analyst has some news about the date!
Recently, Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen decided to chat in the recent ESPN MMA video, and DC got some answers on the date for this mega fight. DC said, “Tell me what you and your buddy Jones are talking about behind the scenes.” ‘The American Gangster’, without wasting any time, said, “Yes, the answer is yes. That’s the one that’s being looked at, but there’s also a date. The UFC for the last two years has gone back-to-back Madison Square Garden in November, and that is being looked at again for this year.”
He further continued: “I like the idea of International Fight Weekend from the time we started doing that, that’s the one where we tried to bring in the grandad. There was even a year when we did multiple shows. Eddie Alvarez became champion of the world on a Friday, and the pay-per-view was the following day. I like that theme for International Fight Weekend.”
Tom Aspinall with post event media during the UFC 304 event at Co-op Etihad Campus, SportCity, Manchester, England on the 27 July 2024. Copyright: xAndyxRowlandx PMI-6350-0004
The 37-year-old is interestingly in a similar spot as Francis Ngannou once was. In 2021 Ngannou was regarded as the baddest man on the planet after his booming knockout of Miocic at UFC 260. This was enough for the fans to desire a Jones vs Ngannou fight but in came the money matters. Unfortunately, the fight never took place and Ngannou went on to PFL. Now after Jones had defeated Miocic, Aspinall was waiting on the sidelines to unify the title against him and Jones but the latter was dismissive throughout.
The UFC Hall of Famer had other news as well, and he was sure that the fight was a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’. He said on his channel “They got a deal done with Jon Jones and Aspinall, at least verbally, the night before — this is inside information, you will not have heard this story anywhere else — they got a deal done verbally the night before Pereira vs. Ankalaev.” However, what about Jones demanding ‘fu—you money’? Former UFC fighter Dan Hardy had some things to say.
Dan Hardy accused Jones of lacking confidence
After listening to all the recent claims, the former UFC fighter pointed out how he did the same before his fight with Francis Ngannou. Jones could have garnered around $5o million if he stepped inside the Octagon with the former champion. But Hardy said that it was Ngannou’s prowess that might have wrecked Jones’ confidence.
He feels that history is repeating itself, and while speaking to the ‘talkSport MMA’ show, he revealed the same. Hardy said, ” Now Jon Jones is moving into heavyweight at this point in his career. Like he’s still 30 pounds off Tom Aspinall, you know. And I think Tom beats Jon Jones at this stage. But the thing, honestly, that undermines Jon in my mind, more than anything else, is his seeming lack of confidence to fight these guys. Like that, honestly, is the biggest thing. If I dig into it deeply, it’s his lack of confidence, it seems. He’s showing a lack of confidence to fight Tom Aspinall.”
Aspinall already declared that he was losing interest, and it is valid. The interim HW champ has now held this title for almost 500 days with no future fight announcements. Aspinall tried everything to instigate Jones into a fight and even pulled out a rubber duck (pun intended) at a UFC event to insinuate ‘Bones’ ducking him. Sonnen was impressed and said in one of his videos, “This guy is rich and famous—he could have splurged on a high-end duck, but instead, he pulls out one like you’d get in a Happy Meal, probably worth around 15 cents. He’s sitting in a $5,000 seat but chose a 15-cent duck. That was great stuff!”
That was clearly to take a jibe at the heavyweight champion demeaning his position. But the real question still remains: When will we get to witness this fight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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