The UFC was in Baku on Saturday for a special Fight Night event, but the most compelling thing came from the post-event presser rather than in the Octagon.
UFC CEO Dana White dropped a bombshell, though not particularly surprising. According to White, UFC legend Jon Jones called promotion officials on Friday night and retired.
Subsequently, White announced interim champion Tom Aspinall was being elevated to undisputed champion status. Aspinall is now the new UFC heavyweight champion.
Here’s a clip of the announcement posted by UFC Europe:
Jones followed up with the official announcement on his social media
There are a lot of things to take from this news, but here are three concepts that are pretty tough to dispute.
Jon Jones is Afraid to Lose to Tom Aspinall
I don’t believe Jones is afraid of any man. He knows that with his size, skill, and fight acumen, he has a chance to beat anyone in the sport.
He does appear to be afraid of losing. Jones is 28-1, and the only loss came via disqualification for throwing a 12-6 elbow, which is no longer illegal. No one actually considers it a legit loss, as Jones was destroying Matt Hamill.
So unofficially, Jones appears to be protecting his perfect record. Could he beat Aspinall? Of course, but it seems the MMA legend isn’t willing to risk it against a challenger as skilled and dangerous as Aspinall. Also, Jones is financially secure. He’s no longer chasing paydays.
If Jones were younger (he turns 38 next month), he’d probably be more willing to fight Aspinall. As it is, Jones doesn’t appear to believe fighting the young and hungry heavyweight is worth the risk.
Tom Aspinall Got the Prize, But It Has Been Devalued
Aspinall did nothing wrong throughout this process.
He beat everyone put in front of him, and he did it impressively. He targeted the greatest fighter of all time and wanted to win the UFC heavyweight title in the Octagon.
Jones’ insistence on fighting Stipe Miocic—and the UFC allowing the fight—coupled with Bones’ mind games with Aspinall, led to nearly a year of wasted time. Aspinall is indeed the champion, and he is deserving, but we’re all lying if we say it feels the same as it would have if he’d won it in the Octagon.
This is the MMA equivalent of an email title in boxing. I asked Aspinall if winning the title this way would detract from its glory. He told me: “No, because for me, it isn’t really about legacy. I couldn’t care less, to be honest. I know that means a lot to some guys, but it’s not about that for me. I just want to be the UFC heavyweight champion. I just want to be the undisputed heavyweight champion.”
I heard him loud and clear, but I think most would disagree.
Again, this isn’t Aspinall’s fault, but inevitably he’s had his prize devalued by a privileged GOAT and the promotion who enabled him.
Moving forward, I hope the UFC incorporates a rule that makes champions defend their title at least once a year. If they don’t defend the title in a year, an interim title fight should be held.
The champion in recess would then have six months to fight the newly crowned interim champion before the latter is elevated to full champion.
Tom Aspinall Vs. Alex Pereira is the Fight to Make
According to White, Aspinall will be in Las Vegas for International Fight Week in the next few days. The two sides are said to be set to figure out who Aspinall will fight in his first title defense.
Currently, Ciryl Gane is the No. 2 contender, and Alexander Volkov is No. 3.
Aspinall submitted Volkov in 2022. However, the Russian was robbed against Gane in December 2024 in a fight that even White felt the judges got wrong.
Gane would be a logical choice to get the title shot, but few people will be excited about that fight. On the other hand, almost every MMA fan would be over the moon if Aspinall’s first title defense came against Alex Pereira.
Here’s why the UFC should make this the fight for later this year.
White has seemingly been on an unspoken mission to restore the prestige to the UFC heavyweight championship. Francis Ngannou walked away from the promotion, which stole away the UFC’s hold on the lineal title.
I have always believed that was the reason White embarked on his major push for Jones as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Jones is sellable as the true heavyweight champion. An interim champion like Gane—who Jones defeated to win the title and who Ngannou had just beaten—was not.
White seemed hellbent on putting Jones over as the undisputed GOAT (a title he legitimately owns even without the extra push) as a means to make everyone forget Ngannou never lost the UFC title. He surrendered it when he signed with the Professional Fighters League.
The UFC scrubbed Ngannou’s name from production, and it remained that way until Israel Adesanya openly questioned the practice in 2024. White apologized to Adesanya for all mentions of Ngannou being erased.
Oddly enough, don’t rule out Ngannou returning to the UFC at some point. He took to X with this post after Jones announced his decision.
Aspinall needs a victory over someone with a name that fans recognize. Right now, there is no bigger star in the sport than Pereira. He is coming off a loss to Magomed Ankalaev that saw him lose his light heavyweight title.
However, it wasn’t a fight that saw him beaten up. Some would argue he should still be champion, as the fight was close; I thought Pereira eked it out in a fight that presented a tough matchup stylistically.
In a recent video, Pereira weighed in at 243 pounds, and many fans thought he was teasing a heavyweight move.
It all makes sense. It’s what’s best for business, and Aspinall-Pereira is the fight most fans will want to see. Name a bigger fight in all of combat sports.
I’d wait, but I already know there isn’t a bigger one to make. By the way, there was a whole UFC event on Saturday. There were only two finishes, hence my opening statement. Here are the results.
UFC Baku Results
- Khalil Rountree Jr. defeats Jamahal Hill via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)
- Rafael Fiziev defeats Ignacio Bahamondes via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Curtis Blaydes defeats Rizvan Kuniev via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
- Myktybek Orolbai defeats Tofiq Musayev via submission (Kimura) at 4:35 of the first round
- Nazim Sadykhov defeats Nikolas Motta via TKO (strikes) at 4:17 of Round 2
- Muhammad Naimov defeats Bogdan Grad via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- SeokHyeon Ko defeats Oban Elliott via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- JunYong Park defeats Ismail Naurdiev via unanimous decision (29-26, 29-26, 29-25)
- Daria Zhelezniakova defeats Melissa Mullins by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Klaudia Sygula defeats Irina Alekseeva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Tagir Ulanbekov defeats Azat Maksum via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Mohammed Usman defeats Hamdy Abdelwahab via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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