If there has been one thing consistent about Jon Jones’ largely inactive run as the second-longest reigning heavyweight champion in UFC history, it’s that the G.O.A.T. in mixed martial arts has wanted nothing to do with fighting interim titleholder Tom Aspinall.
It only took until today, some 840 days after Jones first became a two-division champion by defeating Cyril Gane for the vacant heavyweight title, for UFC president/CEO Dana White to publicly believe him.
In one of the most disappointing moments in UFC’s illustrious history of forcing its best fighters to fight one another due to the promotion’s monopolistic control of the industry, White announced Saturday that the 37-year-old Jones has informed him of his decision to retire despite record money on the table for a unification fight against Aspinall that was more than two years in the making.
Jon Jones retires: UFC president Dana White announces end of legendary career; Tom Aspinall now full champion
Brian Campbell
Unlike other big-name UFC retirements in recent years, there was no video package to accompany White’s breaking news or any celebration of everything Jones had accomplished throughout his unmatched 17-year pro career. In fact, the announcement took place in the middle of the night local time as White, whose appearances at such events has become anything but automatic of late, sat down with reporters halfway around the world at the post-fight press conference following UFC’s inaugural visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.
White looked noticeably unhappy yet still very composed as he announced Aspinall had been elevated to undisputed champion despite the fact that the 32-year-old heavyweight from England’s career, not to mention the division at large, had been so unjustly put on hold so White could play to the fragile ego of “Bones” for two years by declaring him to be the pound-for-pound best in the world each time a microphone was placed in front of him.
All White could say when asked if he regretted the negative fallout that came from enabling Jones so shamelessly was, “If you look at what [Jones] accomplished in this sport, no. It is what it is.”
If anything, the impact of Jones’ announcement felt like the final straw for any discerning UFC fans who have held back their complaints as long as possible in 2025 despite watered-down matchmaking and insane ticket price gouging amid a season in which the promotion and its parent company, TKO Global, have been furiously negotiating multiple suitors for a new broadcasting deal that they hope will triple their combined contract to that of over $1 billion per year.
The problem in this situation is that there really isn’t one person or organization that deserves all of the blame. If anything, the saddest part about this is that everyone deserves the blame somewhat equally.
Jones could’ve easily walked away following the injury he suffered immediately after defeating Gane, which led to a 20-month layoff in which he was never stripped of the title. He could have also done the same last November when UFC allowed a completely unnecessary title defense against a 41-year-old former champion in Stipe Miocic who hadn’t fought in three years (and hadn’t won since 2020).
Instead, Jones kept up the illusion that the fight was still possible, even as he regularly talked down about Aspinall’s commercial value and lack of an elite resume in such legacy damaging ways that led some media members and critics (like myself) to suggest that Jones was publicly negotiating for more money or (even worse) colluding with UFC to delay the fight’s announcement until the new broadcasting deal was secured.
None of that appears to be true, however, even after White publicly declared after UFC 316 in June that Jones had previously agreed to the Aspinall fight. And that’s why UFC and White deserve just as much of the blame as Jones for teasing fans, holding up business and making a mockery of the championship itself.
If you’re looking for historical precedent in this case, there’s plenty of that, too.
Inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie will never be mistaken for Jones in the history books, but her 2017 title reign did end after just four months when she was stripped for refusing to defend her title against Cris Cyborg out of fears over performance-enhancing drug allegations. Inaugural women’s flyweight champion, Nicco Montano, was also unjustly stripped of her title in 2018 immediately after her withdrawal from a title defense due to being hospitalized following a difficult weight cut.
Jones, just like when he was enabled by UFC in December 2018 when concerns over a failed drug test to their defending light heavyweight champion led to the decision of UFC 232 being moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles during Christmas week on just a few days’ notice, was allowed to walk out his historically hollow reign as heavyweight champion on his own unprecedented terms and at his own speed.
UFC didn’t just mess with the patience and tolerance of its own fan base while stealing a sizeable chunk of Aspinall’s fighting prime and earning power, it also unnaturally altered its own heavyweight history by so haphazardly stalling the division and the best-laid plans of its top contenders.
Yet, for as dirty as his hands are in this situation, White could’ve spun the bad news on Saturday into optimistic hope of another superfight on the horizon had he dropped a selfish grudge against Francis Ngannou and entertained the idea of welcoming back the former heavyweight champion once his PFL contract expires in order to provide Aspinall with the career-defining fight he just lost.
Instead, White chose to put his personal beef surrounding Ngannou’s decision two years ago to exit the promotion and seek free agency (which conveniently opened the door for Jones to return from a three-year retirement) ahead of what’s best for TKO’s business or that of a beaten down fanbase that is finally waking up to the idea that their satisfaction in modern times has been prioritized far down the list below that of fat government contracts from global cities or the need to provide, in this case ESPN, with weekly content (come COVID hell or high water).
“One thing I’ve learned over the years about Francis is that Francis doesn’t always mean what he says publicly,” White said. “What he says behind the scenes are different than what he says publicly. I’m not a big fan. I would be shocked if Francis ever came back here, on lots of different levels. I’m not a fan and he doesn’t always mean what he says publicly.”
Two years ago, Aspinall jokingly said in a podcast appearance with Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith that he would “retire Jon Jones without even fighting him.” Very few would have guessed that here we would be, adding Jones-Ngannou, Jones-Aspinall and Ngannou-Aspinall to the short list of UFC dream fights that have failed to come to fruition, alongside Randy Couture-Fedor Emelianenko, Brock Lesnar-Emelianenko and Anderson Silva-Georges St. Pierre.
For all of the time and money that White and fellow TKO brass have spent over the past year stretching their combat sports tentacles into other potential monopsony takeover attempts like pro wrestling, boxing, jiu-jitsu and Power Slap, they have allowed the pursuit of creating crossover stars and traffic-stopping superfights in their bread and butter of MMA to take a backseat.
TKO continues to act as if it believes UFC can run itself these days when the reality is, it’s slowly running it into the ground.
