Former UFC title challenger Dominick Reyes believes Jon Jones’ avoidance of a title unification fight with Tom Aspinall is all about “risk management.”
Bones’ returned from a three-year-long layoff last March, walking into a heavyweight title fight with top-ranked contender Ciryl Gane. Jones made quick work of ‘Bon Gamin’ and was slated to defend the strap against consensus GOAT Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November. Unfortunately, Jones suffered a torn pectoral weeks before their scheduled scrap.
Instead, fans were treated to an interim heavyweight title fight pitting Tom Aspinall against Sergei Pavlovich. Aspinall came out on top, scoring a 69-second KO against the Russian knockout artist.
Typically, an interim titleholder moves on to fight the undisputed champ upon their return. However, it didn’t take long for Aspinall to realize that a fight with Jones wasn’t in his future. With the UFC determined to rebook Jones vs. Miocic for some time in 2024, it’s becoming more and more apparent that Aspinall will never get his dream match against ‘Bones.’
Aspinall Fight is ‘Too Dangerous’ For Jon Jones
Speaking with James Lynch in a MiddleEasy exclusive interview, Reyes, a former foe of Jon Jones inside the Octagon, understands why ‘Bones’ is avoiding a fight with Aspinall, likening it to when the two-division champ refused to sign on the dotted line for their own rematch following UFC 247.
“I completely understand where Jon [Jones] is coming from,” Reyes said. “Jon is Jon Jones, say his name anywhere in the world, and people recognize it. Fighting Tom [Aspinall] is a risk management thing. It’s almost the same reason why he didn’t rematch me kind of thing. It’s too dangerous and not enough payoff. Tom is an excellent fighter” (h/t MMA News).
In the eyes of many, Dominick Reyes should have walked away with the light heavyweight title after his five-round war with Jones in 2020.
Dominick Reyes goes right at Jon Jones
#UFC247 | @espnmma pic.twitter.com/HSC2yi8Uza
— ESPN (@espn) February 9, 2020
Seeing a lot of himself in Aspinall, ‘The Devastator’ believes their potential meeting is a “super dangerous” one that offers minimal upside for ‘Bones’ when it comes to both money and legacy.
“Tom is very similar to myself, but he’s a heavyweight,” Reyes added. “That’s super dangerous. He moves extremely well, he’s very quick, his wrestling is really good, his grappling is good, his power is off the charts. How is that gonna benefit Jon? Beating the most recent champion? Nah, let’s fight the greatest heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic…Jon is a great himself, so he’s going to fight another active great.”