When you think about the biggest rivals to Jon Jones over the course of his MMA career, Daniel Cormier is the first name to come to mind. The two battled over the light heavyweight championship in the UFC before “DC” ultimately retired from the sport.
Now that Jones holds the heavyweight title, many want to see him squrare off with interim champion Tom Aspinall. But that just seems to be a fight that is not interesting enough for “Bones.”
And Cormier believes it is now time to strip him of the belt.
“He doesn’t want to fight this guy,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel recently (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). “It does not sound like he’s going to fight. It’s time to take the belt, it’s time to move on and hope that itch he speaks about comes back.
“And if it does, stick him in there with Tom. Give him no other choice. I gotta be honest, I would make him fight Tom even if Tom wasn’t the champion because that’s the fight that matters. Tom Aspinall is ready.”
Aspinall captured the interim belt the night the original Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight was scrapped at UFC 295 in 2023. He has since defended the belt, as has Jones over Miocic.
One reason Cormier feels Jones could be ignoring Aspinall is because of his age. Jones is now 38 years old and has battled injuries suffered in training for the past few years.
“If this was Jon Jones at 28 years old, no worry for him and Aspinall would not be the biggest threat to him,” Cormier said. “The reason Aspinall is the biggest threat is because he’s 38 years old, because he’s lived a life of excess, partying, living.”
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