Overnight tweet storm may mean nothing, and may mean everything.
An overnight tweet storm from Jon Jones may have given the MMA world the best clue yet about his future in the cage.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC), the UFC’s heavyweight champion and a former longtime light heavyweight champ, leaned into the narrative from fans that he’s ducking a title unification bout with interim champion Tom Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC).
There has been growing discontent in the MMA community over Jones’ apparent unwillingness to line up a fight with Aspinall, to the point there’s a petition urging the UFC to strip him of his title. Aspinall tried to steer the story toward Jones being retired earlier this week, and in Jones’ tweets, he did little to dispel that theory.
When a fan asked Jones how he would beat Aspinall if they fought, Jones replied: “By not even giving him the chance.”
Moments earlier, he mocked the longtime idea that he’s ducking Aspinall by calling himself “Duck boy” and announcing he was about to give “one big fat FU to the haters.”
Jones said, among other things:
- at 37, his body hurts everywhere;
- he hasn’t trained since he beat Stipe Miocic in November 2024;
- it’s in the UFC’s best interest to keep him champion, not Aspinall;
- he can’t have his title stripped because he’d vacate it freely.
He also gave other fighters lessons in building their legacies by saying “your legacy isn’t your last move.”
Jones, regarded by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in history – particularly, of late, his boss, UFC CEO Dana White – has fought eight times in the past 10 years. One of those fight was overturned for a positive steroids test. He has four decision wins in that time.
Since he arrived in the UFC five years ago, Aspinall is 8-1. The one loss was in 15 seconds when he blew out his knee against Curtis Blaydes in July 2022 and suffered a TKO without getting touched. He avenged that loss in 2024 in 60 seconds. All eight of his wins in the UFC have been finishes, and seven have been in the first round. He has seven post-fight bonuses.
Check out Jones’ tweets below.
