In the pre- and post-fight of UFC 309, UFC heavyweight champion and light-heavyweight legend Jon ‘Bones’ Jones made it clear that he did not want to fight interim champion Tom Aspinall, going as far as to say that the Stipe Miocic fight earlier this month would ‘more than likely’ be his last.
Jones did say that he would fight Aspinall if and only if his bosses paid him appropriately, while Dana White said that the Aspinall fight is the only fight to make.
So when Jon Jones says, “The UFC and I, we’re in negotiations. We’re in talks to see what happens next…. Yes. Yes, I will be competing in 2025, more than likely,” could it mean that he has finally resigned himself to fighting the British interim champ because the UFC are going to pay him right?
After all, in the same interview with The Schmo, Jones remarked, “If I give [Aspinall] the opportunity to fight me I want to be compensated. I want to say it, I want that f— you money.”
The UFC, which creates revenue exceeding a billion dollars every year and only pays 13% of that to fighters at last count, could easily afford whatever it is that Jones asks for.
The question is if Dana White and Hunter Campbell are willing to allow a fighter a negotiating win that may make other fighters stand up for themselves. In the past, the UFC let the baddest man alive, Francis Ngannou, go for exactly that reason.
Who knows what will really happen. After all, not long ago ‘Bones’ was saying he will retire after this fight. These new quotes could simply be another misdirection, or plans may fall through.
However, for now at least, there is positive progress on the negotiations to book the highly anticipated heavyweight title unification bout.
