Jon Jones who decides to retire instead of uniting the title against Tom Aspinall has led some to question his estate.
The former two-division champion had his legacy long before he was talking to fight the interim champion Tom Aspinall. However, Jon Jones kept Aspinall waiting for almost 600 days for the undisputed title before he finally played his belt with his pension decision last weekend.
Instead of fighting against the younger Aspinall, Jones's last UFC fight against a 42-year-old Stipe Miocic on UFC 309 in November, where he won through TKO on the third round.
Although he was perhaps the greatest hunter of all time, Jones received criticism for avoiding the Aspinall fight and to cancel for a record UFC payment day in his last move.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Aljamain Sterling defends Jon Jones' pension: 'You don't have to fight'
For example, if Jones has been and has been in the past 15 years, 'Bones' was advised to run away from Aspinall to protect his essentially undefeated record (the only loss of Jones is a disqualification).
Jones, 37, is not as young as before and is not interested in the Aspinall fight from the start.
Former UFC Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling responded to the story that Jones hurt his inheritance by not uniting the heavyweight title before retiring.
“I don't think John's retirement is a spot on his legacy,” said Sterling on his YouTube channel.
“I know that some people try to paint that story, but how can a man who have defended his championship title more than 10 times, have a spot on his legacy because he decided not to fight again?” Sterling went on.
“If he was hit by a car, knock on a wood and he could not compete for the rest of his life, while the negotiations were still being done in the occurrence of the negotiations, would people still say that this is a spot on his inheritance?
'No. So what is the difference in God's sake? He doesn't want to fight him.
“Now as a selfish fan, the selfish fan in me, I would like to see Jon Jones fight against Tommy Aspinall. Of course I want to fight Jonies against Tommy Aspinall. It's a crazy fight.
“But I have to be real. I understand the business side of things and the lifespan and I protect what you have achieved and create where you are in a position where you don't have to fight.”
Jon Jones stood for 'Ducking' accusations after Dominick Reyes Fight in 2020
Aspinall is not the first fighter jets to be accused of 'diving' in his 24-Fight UFC-Run.
Before moving to the heavyweight division, light heavyweight champion Jones was not so interested in the rematch of Dominick Reyes after their fight on UFC 247 in February 2020.
The undefeated Reyes gave Jones one of his toughest fights and lost a unanimous decision to Jones in a fight that many, including Dana White, thought that Reyes had won.
Jones never fought against Reyes again or again took on light weight, where Reyes lost his next 3 fights to Knockout and Jones won the heavyweight title after a three -year dismissal.
Many of the comments against Jones read as they do today on a Tom Aspinall message. After he had barely defeated Reyes, Jones initially went a title fight with Jan Bachowicz in the same month.
Jon Jones on Jan Bachowicz: “I can fully see the UFC matching us. What a better way to make a claim for the title than to get such a knockout, so I got the feeling that the UFC will call me soon.” (Via @Espnmma) pic.twitter.com/zvskfvql65
– Chamatkar Sandhu (@Sandhumma) February 16, 2020
View tweet
“Reyes Ducking Reyes,” was a comment.
“This guy no longer begs against Reyes,” wrote a fan.
“What a coward,” said another fan about Jones.
“What a similar era as the one in which we are now,” said a fan about the Jones-Aspinall Saga on X.
.