Saying goodbye is never easy — but when it’s your favorite fighter, a true legend of the sport, it hits differently. That bittersweet moment arrived last week. After nearly 17 years of a glorious yet often controversial career, the former two-division champion Jon Jones officially bid farewell to the MMA world. Interestingly, the announcement didn’t come from Jones himself. Instead, it was Dana White who broke the news during UFC Baku, revealing that ‘Bones’ had “retired” — and with that, he named Tom Aspinall the new “undisputed” heavyweight leader.
Yet earlier this June, Dana White said Jones had agreed to fight Aspinall. He had called Jones’ statements about vacating the belt “crazy.” White still hoped the matchup could happen later this year with a 180-day prep window. The fault lies not just with Jones, but with Dana White and UFC leadership too, for allowing the stalemate to drag on for so long, costing Aspinall’s prime and harming the division’s momentum.
But Jon Jones’ retirement didn’t come without noise. It ignited immediate backlash and reignited long-standing accusations that he had been avoiding a long-overdue title unification bout with Tom Aspinall. Meanwhile, a petition with 108,000+ signatures demanded the UFC strip Jones of the heavyweight title if he didn’t face Aspinall, signaling widespread fan impatience. For over 500 days, the Brit waited as the interim champion — left in limbo while ‘Bones’ stalled the division’s momentum. The extended delay not only denied Aspinall a rightful shot at undisputed status but also drew widespread criticism toward Dana White and UFC leadership for failing to either secure the matchup or strip Jones of the belt.
With the curtain now seemingly closed on Jon Jones’ fighting career, UFC veteran and current analyst Daniel Cormier added a twist. He floated the idea of a potential comeback but only under a specific condition. Cormier predicted, “if Tom Aspinall loses,” then a return might be on the table. “He (Jones) would come back,“ Cormier said. However, not everyone agrees. Chael Sonnen, Cormier’s longtime friend and fellow analyst, doesn’t believe a comeback is realistic — even in that scenario.
Sonnen reminded fans of the promotion’s past frustrations dealing with Jon Jones and questioned whether they’d take that gamble again,
“But you must understand this from the promotion’s standpoint: we couldn’t count on you and do business with you when you were the champion of the world. What if you’re right, and you are better than him? Do you think we’re going to bring in a guy we couldn’t count on when we should have? You think we’re going to bring you in, let you beat our champion, and then find ourselves in this exact same spot — with you holding the gun on us?”
Still, as much of a headache as Jon Jones has been for Dana White & Co., taking back fighters who once caused trouble is nothing new for the promotion. Just look at Tito Ortiz.
Ortiz had one of the most notoriously rocky relationships with Dana White, frequently clashing over contract disputes and creative control. The tension between them became the stuff of MMA legend, with long-standing rumors that the two nearly came to blows behind closed doors. Things got so bad that Ortiz walked away from the UFC in 2007, prompting White to label him the most “difficult” fighter he had ever worked with.
Yet, despite all the bad blood, Ortiz returned to the UFC in 2009, competed until 2012, and — leading up to his retirement — the UFC eventually honored him with a place in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Dana White named the only fighter Jon Jones ever ducked
Now, the once-hyped talks of a heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall seem firmly shelved. Dana White and the UFC could not convince the former heavyweight kingpin to put his title — and legacy — on the line against the Brit. Even though ‘Bones’ hadn’t fought since UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, where he defended his title against Stipe Miocic, he had the perfect opportunity to retire on top.
Instead, Jon Jones extended his decision-making for over seven months, keeping the division on hold and leaving Tom Aspinall — the interim champion — stuck in uncertainty. Still, UFC President Dana White refuses to believe that his longtime “GOAT” was avoiding the Aspinall fight. In fact, White suggested the only time the New Mexican might have ducked a challenge was years ago — and that challenge wasn’t then interim champ, but Chael Sonnen. Speaking to Bloody Elbow yesterday, Dana White said,
“No, No, Jon Jones, I’ve said it a million times, I’ll say it again, he’s never ducked anybody. Other than that one goofy time with the Chael Sonnen thing. Never ducked anybody. Whatever changed his mind with this matchup, I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him that. But he’s [about to be] 38 years old. I don’t know.”
With rumors swirling around Jon Jones’ potential return, the big question remains: will we see him step back into the Octagon next year — or even sooner — if Tom Aspinall loses the title? Could the former heavyweight kingpin be gearing up for one final run? Let us know what you think. Drop your prediction below.
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