Jones Needs To Fight Aspinall For His Legacy To Be Complete

Jones’ heavyweight legacy will not be complete unless he unifies the belts and fights new interim champion Tom Aspinall.

UFC 295 in New York City was supposed to feature Jon Jones fighting Stipe Miocic to decide who was the best heavyweight in the UFC. Instead, Tom Aspinall stepped into the spotlight at Madison Square Garden to capture the UFC interim heavyweight title. With that quick and impressive win over Sergei Pavlovich, he throws the entire point of Jones’ run into question.

Jones hasn’t exactly made it a secret why he’s embarked on this final run at heavyweight. It’s a legacy thing: he wants to secure his place as the Greatest Of All Time, and a dominant run a division up from his original home at light heavyweight is a great way to do it. Beating Stipe Miocic, the man with the most heavyweight title defenses, is a great way to do it.

Or at least it was before Jones suffered a torn pectoral, putting the Miocic fight on hold until mid-2024.

With Tom Aspinall the new, dominant, healthy interim champion, Jones’ plan to beat Miocic and then peace out of the promotion will no longer generate the sort of accolade he once hoped it would. If anything, the Jones vs. Miocic fight is at risk of becoming obsolete, a vanity project between two aging legends.

No matter who wins between Jones or Miocic, they will no longer be viewed as the true undisputed heavyweight champion. Whoever wants that title will have to beat interim champion Tom Aspinall now. If they don’t, there will be serious questions about the legitimacy of the title.

Things are already a bit off with Francis Ngannou’s shadow hanging over the division. Could Jon or Stipe really be satisfied fighting each other but not unifying against Aspinall? We have to hope pride and pressure push them to see that the interim title is unfinished business that cannot remain undealt with.

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