Tom Aspinall is backing Jon Jones in the UFC White House feud with Dana White.
That might sound “crazy” to a lot of fans when you consider the abuse Aspinall endured while trying to book a heavyweight title fight against Jones for the better part of 2025. “Bones” kept the “unproven” Brit on the shelf for several months, turned down $30 million, and eventually announced a fake retirement.
I guess Aspinall is picking the lesser of two evils.
“My reaction to that, this is probably going to be crazy to a lot
of people listening, but why is the UFC not giving Jon the respect he deserves financially? That’s crazy to me,” Aspinall told Ariel Helwani. “If anyone should be getting paid a lot in this sport, it should be Jon Jones for the stuff he’s done. And that’s me saying that after the history I’ve had with Jon Jones. They offered him $30 million to fight me, so why haven’t they offered it to him again? We’re talking about Conor McGregor and Jon Jones; those are the guys who’ve brought in revenue for over 10 years. They need to be getting paid what they deserve, in my opinion.”
To be fair, they offered him $30 million when they had pay-per-view (PPV) points to barter.
Jones, 38, was omitted from the upcoming UFC White House card, despite weeks of begging, and his apology for the Aspinall roller coaster fell on deaf ears. That led to a demand for his UFC release, which probably won’t come, because the promotion no longer needs Jones to defend a title or move PPV units.
In short, Jones has no bargaining power, so he either completes the remaining fights on his UFC contract or remains stuck in limbo for the foreseeable future.
“UFC should release Jon Jones,” said MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian. “He’s done. Bad hip. Let him go make a few dollars somewhere else with his bad hip. Only fair for a guy who has given his whole career to one organization but now clear he is not fit enough to compete for them.”
But fit enough to compete for MVP?
