Jon Jones isn’t flat out passing on ever fighting Tom Aspinall, but with his only real reason to return to the UFC centered around the card at the White House, he just doesn’t see a need to pursue that
matchup, especially after his latest performance.
As he continues to pursue the headline spot on the historic card taking place at the White House in June 2026, Jones detailed why he ultimately prefers a matchup against Alex Pereira over Aspinall when it comes to potential opponents. Jones had already criticized Aspinall for some of his past performances but watching him refuse to continue in his most recent fight against Ciryl Gane after getting eye poked told him everything he needed to know about the reigning UFC heavyweight champion.
“His last situation with Ciryl Gane, he gets poked in the eye, normally you see fighters [checking their eye] or trying to get the doctor to look at it,” Jones said on the Geoffrey Woo podcast. “Actually initially the doctor’s like ‘he seems fine’ and Tom’s like ‘no, I can’t fight, I can’t see.’ The guy wasn’t trying to see. The guy didn’t want to see.
“Another thing was the eye that he was covering appeared to be the eye that didn’t get penetrated. One eye, the finger goes all the way underneath the eyelid. The other eye was on top of the eyelid and he ends up grabbing the eye where the finger was on top of the eyelid. I don’t even think Tom really knew which eye was supposed to be more compromised. He just knew that he had been fouled, and it was his way out.”
Jones still complimented Aspinall as a fighter but he never really found the attraction in that particular matchup, especially when he compared their resumes. After watching Aspinall’s latest fight end in a no-contest cemented why Jones doesn’t really have much interest in the fight.
“I still think Tom is an amazing athlete,” Jones said. “I think he’s a great fighter. Recon is really important. Having information on what you’re going up against is really important. I feel like time is on my side to figure out who this opponent is. If we still fight, it would be awesome.
“I don’t feel like I need him, especially after his last performance. I think time will show the world who I am, what I’ve done and just because someone’s newer or maybe more exciting doesn’t mean that they replace what is already here.”
As much as he doesn’t seem to believe Aspinall goes down as an all-time great, Jones has a much different opinion when it comes to Alex Pereira.
“Poatan” is already a two-division UFC champion after conquering both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions and he brings a level of danger and excitement to a fight that really intrigues Jones as an opponent.
“He has that ‘it’ factor,” Jones said about Pereira. “That’s part of the reason I want to compete against Pereira. I feel as if the brand that he represents, the energy that he has behind him will be remembered more than just five years from now.
“For example, Aspinall just had a close fight and people are already writing him off. His journey hasn’t even started yet and he’s already almost moved on. I feel like Pereira, fighting a guy like that would just bring so much more to the table for me.”
While most believe Jones would be heavily favored to beat Pereira based largely around the stylistic clash of grappler going against striker, the former UFC heavyweight champion promises he’d still have to be very strategic in that fight.
From the sound of things, Jones has already been studying and breaking down what he would do in a possible showdown against Pereira.
“With Pereira, I’d just have to be smart. I’d have to be really smart,” Jones said. “I’d have to use what’s in front of me. The biggest difference between Pereira and Aspinall is the level of footage that I have. Pereira posts everything. Every sparring session. I have a whole kickboxing career to study from. I have a pretty decent resume in MMA to watch now to take things from.
“I feel like Pereira is really stuck in a certain way of fighting where he has tendencies in his combinations, tendencies in his counters and his defense. It would be my job to find the holes inside of those tendencies, which I feel like I could.”
There’s no doubt that Pereira possesses incredible stopping power with his strikes and he’s scored knockouts in 8 out of his 10 victories in the UFC — six of those coming in title fights.
But Jones knows his wrestling and grappling are the perfect counter and he expects his power on the ground matches or possibly exceeds what Pereira can do on the feet. Jones believes the same actually goes for Aspinall if that fight ever happened.
“Everyone who wrestles me they all say the same thing — ‘he’s just so much more powerful than I would have imagined him being,’” Jones said. “So I think where he punches really hard and kicks really hard, I think my grappling power and wisdom would be a lot for him to handle. But I also feel like that would be the same scenario for Tom Aspinall. I don’t think the U.K. wrestling system is as good as people think it is. I don’t think their jiu-jitsu programs are as good as people say it is. Where Tom is a lot physically bigger, it would probably take me a little bit more effort, I think it would be the same story if I got Tom to the ground as if I got Pereira to the ground. To me, it’s the same fight. The same fight. They’re both strong on their feet, hit very hard on their feet, and I think they both have holes in their grappling department.
“I feel as if my clearest path to victory in both of those fights would be to get them to the ground at some point. To strike with them, I know that I can. I’ve stood with every fighter in the world. I’ve held my space if not won against every fighter in the world in kickboxing. So my goal would be to kickbox until I find my moment, get the fight on the ground, go for a submission or go for a TKO.”
The clearest path to victory might be the same but Jones promises there’s a huge difference when it comes to the magnitude of each potential fight and that’s what keeps drawing him back to Pereira.
“When you simplify it like that, it’s more a matter of legacy,” Jones explained. “What would make more sense?
“Do you fight the guy [in Tom Aspinall] who is impressive right now, who I don’t think anybody is really going to care about in a few years from now or do you fight the guy [in Alex Pereira] who’s going to be remembered around the world for a very long time? In Brazil, Pereira’s an absolute idol right now.”
