Jon Jones only had words for Alex Pereira after the conclusion of UFC 321, not Tom Aspinall.
Saturday’s event in Abu Dhabi ended in massive disappointment with heavyweight champion Aspinall unable to continue after taking a Ciryl Gane poke to the eyes. The bout was ruled a no-contest, which cause fans at Etihad Arena to shower the fighters with boos.
Making matters worse for Aspinall was this was his first bout as undisputed champion. When Jones retired with a heavyweight belt this past June, the UFC
elevated Aspinall from interim to undisputed status, and a win over Gane would have served as a coronation for Aspinall, who had hunted unification bout with Jones for over a year.
Jones has since announced his plans to come out of retirement and fight at the historic UFC White House event tentatively scheduled for June 4, but he’s definitely not coming back for Aspinall.
“Alex, I’d be down to bring the highest skill level to the White House,” Jones wrote on Twitter referring to Pereira. “I appreciate the respect you showed, let’s dance.”
Pereira is currently in his second reign as UFC light heavyweight champion—a title Jones held for the better part of a decade before later becoming heavyweight champion—and he has also held UFC gold at middleweight. He has been open about wanting to chase a third title at heavyweight and posted his own reaction to Saturday’s main event on Instagram.
“Let’s make the heavyweight division great again,” Pereira wrote in a caption, accompanied by a clip of him laughing at the ending of UFC 321. He has previously stated his interest in meeting Jones in a superfight.
Despite Jones not directly addressing him, Aspinall did not escape Jones’s attention. “Bones” changed his Instagram profile picture from a duck—a reference to Aspinall supporters accusing Jones of avoiding a fight with Aspinall—to a duck with an eye patch.
See the image below.
