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Just hours after undergoing elbow surgery, Jon Jones took time to fire back at Tom Aspinall for his repeated callouts on social media.
The reigning UFC heavyweight champion, who suffered a torn pectoral muscle last year that delayed his fight with Stipe Miocic, will likely return in the summer but he’s been the center of attention for Aspinall for the past few days. After he claimed the interim UFC heavyweight title on Jones’ absence, Aspinall has rather loudly called for a title unification bout rather than rebooking the fight with Miocic.
The latest jab came via TikTok when Aspinall posted a video showing that he’d be willing to wait decades for the Jones fight, which finally caught the attention of the fighter UFC CEO Dana White often calls the greatest of all-time.
“I recognize only four of these names on your resume,” Jones wrote in a now deleted post on Instagram. “Launching TikTok attacks while I’m over here on the injury list is just whack. You get no points for that where I’m from.”
Jones continued in a separate post on Twitter.
“Only four recognizable opponents, and already the king of England, must be nice,” Jones wrote. “There will be legendary tales told about you and your infamous call outs.”
Jones also scoffed at Aspinall’s supposed frustration that he will have to wait for a chance to unify the titles with Miocic getting the next crack at the undisputed champion.
“I mean, it doesn’t really work like that,” Jones said. “I was a champion when I was 23 years old, you can’t show up at age 30 pretending like you’ve been chasing me your whole life. I have no clue who 90% of his résumé is, meanwhile, I’ve been highlighting UFC events my entire career.”
Jones’ response is the first time he’s directly addressed Aspinall, who was booked in a short-notice interim title fight against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 this past November. The interim title bout came together in large part to fill the void left by Jones and Miocic after they were pulled from the card.
At the time, Aspinall was riding a one-fight win streak after he returned from his only loss in the UFC, which happened following a torn ACL he suffered during a showdown with Curtis Blaydes.
After knocking Pavlovich out to win the interim belt, Aspinall expressed his desire to eventually clash with Jones one day but his rhetoric has ramped up in recent days. He previously got a response from Miocic, who told the outspoken Brit that he never caused a delay in booking the Jones fight but “once I get this win, let’s talk to unify the belt.”
Despite Aspinall’s calls to skip over Miocic to face Jones next, White has repeatedly stated that he has no desire to alter the UFC’s plans. Jones will still face Miocic once he’s healthy again and Aspinall could potentially stay busy against a different opponent.
At least Aspinall knows he got Jones’ attention, although he probably didn’t get the response he wanted.
The reigning UFC heavyweight champion, who suffered a torn pectoral muscle last year that delayed his fight with Stipe Miocic, will likely return in the summer but he’s been the center of attention for Aspinall for the past few days. After he claimed the interim UFC heavyweight title on Jones’ absence, Aspinall has rather loudly called for a title unification bout rather than rebooking the fight with Miocic.
The latest jab came via TikTok when Aspinall posted a video showing that he’d be willing to wait decades for the Jones fight, which finally caught the attention of the fighter UFC CEO Dana White often calls the greatest of all-time.
“I recognize only four of these names on your resume,” Jones wrote in a now deleted post on Instagram. “Launching TikTok attacks while I’m over here on the injury list is just whack. You get no points for that where I’m from.”
Jones continued in a separate post on Twitter.
“Only four recognizable opponents, and already the king of England, must be nice,” Jones wrote. “There will be legendary tales told about you and your infamous call outs.”
Jones also scoffed at Aspinall’s supposed frustration that he will have to wait for a chance to unify the titles with Miocic getting the next crack at the undisputed champion.
“I mean, it doesn’t really work like that,” Jones said. “I was a champion when I was 23 years old, you can’t show up at age 30 pretending like you’ve been chasing me your whole life. I have no clue who 90% of his résumé is, meanwhile, I’ve been highlighting UFC events my entire career.”
Jones’ response is the first time he’s directly addressed Aspinall, who was booked in a short-notice interim title fight against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 this past November. The interim title bout came together in large part to fill the void left by Jones and Miocic after they were pulled from the card.
At the time, Aspinall was riding a one-fight win streak after he returned from his only loss in the UFC, which happened following a torn ACL he suffered during a showdown with Curtis Blaydes.
After knocking Pavlovich out to win the interim belt, Aspinall expressed his desire to eventually clash with Jones one day but his rhetoric has ramped up in recent days. He previously got a response from Miocic, who told the outspoken Brit that he never caused a delay in booking the Jones fight but “once I get this win, let’s talk to unify the belt.”
Despite Aspinall’s calls to skip over Miocic to face Jones next, White has repeatedly stated that he has no desire to alter the UFC’s plans. Jones will still face Miocic once he’s healthy again and Aspinall could potentially stay busy against a different opponent.
At least Aspinall knows he got Jones’ attention, although he probably didn’t get the response he wanted.
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