There was a time when Chael Sonnen confidently claimed that the match between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall to unify the heavyweight belts was inevitable, with talks of the fight going down at UFC 317: “I am confident enough to tell you that the fight is done. That fight is agreed all the way down to the date.” Even Dana White confirmed that it was the fight to make. The UFC head honcho claimed that it was a matchup that could generate some impressive revenue. On top of that, the excitement around the bout was also pretty high. However, the narrative changed drastically.
Taking to his YouTube channel, Sonnen revealed that Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones would no longer fight at UFC 317. There will be no fight to unify the heavyweight belts anytime soon. Instead, the interim champion will have to defend his belt for a second time against Ciryl Gane. Well, the timeline remains the same. Aspinall will supposedly fight Gane at the International Fight Week. And the crowd at T-Mobile Arena wouldn’t be as excited as it may have been with Jones vs. Aspinall. Needless to say, it was something that not a single soul had even imagined.
‘The Bad Guy’ quoted, “Are you ready for the interim championship? According to a remarkably good source, Jon Jones is going to be afforded the ability to wait 180 days, which is equivalent to 6 months, which is what he asked for. Tom Aspinall is going to fight with Ciryl Gane. And now, we’re going to defend an interim champion with the existence of an undisputed champion, which is against the laws of logic.” After all, the interim champion, or the #1 contender, should get the title shot. And the Brit has been both.
Chael Sonnen also shared a clip of his YouTube video on his Instagram profile. And as expected, the fighting community rushed into the comments section with their thoughts. Mike Perry was one of the first to make a comment. According to him, Gane vs. Aspinall wasn’t a bad matchup. And he seemed to have no trouble with Jones asking for 6 months off. ‘Platinum’ wrote, “Just cuz it’s never been done before doesn’t mean it can’t happen.” However, the majority of fight fans weren’t so lenient. Let’s see what they had to say.
Jon Jones asked to vacate the title if Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane needs to happen
Most of the fight fans took up arms against the heavyweight champion and called the UFC’s big guns to strip Jon Jones of his heavyweight belt. One of the fans wrote, “Strip Jones, give him the chance to fight for championship in 6 months.” According to the fans, ‘Bones’ was simply denying the call to fight Tom Aspinall. One of the fans weighed in on this and commented, “Time for Jones to be stripped of the title then? He’s basically refusing to fight the number 1 contender.”
Meanwhile, some of the fans pointed out that if Aspinall fought Ciryl Gane, it would be his second interim title defense, with the first one being against Curtis Blaydes. And that’s something that the fighting community doesn’t like. One of the fans commented, “Nah bro aspinall has to fight for undisputed next he already won and then defended the interim belt. Strip Jon if anything.” Another fan claimed, “Atp tom should defend the interim belt from JJ as the undisputed belt is very disputed.” One more fan expressed his doubts regarding Jones being worthy of the heavyweight title. He wrote, “So you have a interim champ defending his belt more than the actual champ. And people still call Jon the real HW champion.”
On the other hand, some of the fans claimed that Gane vs. Aspinall would be better for the interim champ. The comment read, “i would love for this to happen, i know for a fact tom demolishes gane it’s not even a question in my mind, then how s— would jones look for sitting out.” Another fan added his disappointment at the chances of Jones vs. Gane 2. The fan wrote, “Holy ducking Bro if Gane Beats him and he doesnt get the title Shot and we get jones vs gane 2 all ts was for nothung.”
What are your thoughts on the matchup between Aspinall and ‘Bon Gamin’? Do you think Jones should actually vacate the heavyweight title if he wishes to take a 180-day break? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Calls Mount for Jon Jones to Be Stripped of the UFC Title as Chael Sonnen Confirms Tom Aspinall’s Future appeared first on EssentiallySports.
