Well, say goodbye to Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall.
Jones scored the first defense of his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight title at UFC 309 last night (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024) when he stopped Stipe Miocic with a brutal spinning back kick from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City (watch highlights).
After his legacy-defining win, Jones surprised everyone and revealed he has decided to not retire. However, during the UFC 309 post-fight press conference (watch here), “Bones” said he will retire if he doesn’t fight Alex Pereira next.
“I’m not really worried about the Tom fight; I’m worried about the Pereira fight; that’s what I want to do,” Jones told the media. “I think if the UFC wants me back, that’s the fight they’ll make. I’ve been really clear about my intentions… I’ll retire the Heavyweight belt if I have to. Give the dude what he wants at the end of the day. I feel like I’m at a place where I want to take super-fights. I don’t want to fight dangerous up-and-comers anymore. I want to fight dangerous, established champions. So, Tom can have the Heavyweight championship; I don’t really care about it…One of the really good things about negotiating is being willing to walk away from a deal, and that’s the deal that I want. If that’s not what the fans want, I guess I’ll say Sayonara.”
While Jones doubled down on wanting to fight the current Light Heavyweight champion next, he did tease a fight with Aspinall for a hefty price.
“If I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated. I want that f—k you money, honestly, that’s just what it is,” Jones said. Or else, my life is perfect without him. I don’t need him at all, but he needs me, and that’s a good place to be in a negotiation.”
“Bones” sort of clarified what the price tag is on ‘f—k you’ money.
“It’s a very, very high number. I’ve learned over the years not to get into finances publicly, but I want to be compensated to the point that if I win or lose, it wouldn’t really matter,” Jones concluded.
Jones has asked for ‘f—k you’ money before, and … he did not get it. So, unless something crazy has changed in the last four years, it looks like Jones vs. Aspinall is just a pipe dream.
UFC CEO Dana White said he was willing to compensate Jones during the same press conference, but he didn’t know that his Heavyweight champion wanted ‘f—k you’ money.
For complete UFC 309 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.