Everybody and their dog know what Dana White thinks of heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The UFC CEO, of course, believes that ‘Bones’ is the pound-for-pound #1 fighter in the promotion and the GOAT of MMA. So insistent has White been in asserting this that fans have started accusing him of ‘glazing’ Jones.
Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, despite his differences with Jones, has no issues with Dana White’s alleged glazing. But he just has one request for the UFC CEO. Speaking to ‘VechtersBazen’ in an interview, the Englishman revealed that despite Jones’ clowning him recently, he still had a lot of respect for everything the New Mexico resident has done in the sport. “What he’s done in the sport, it’s hard to not respect that, apart from the PEDs. But I think, you know, if you can get that name on you on your resume as a scalp, I think that goes a long way,” he said.
However, the interim champ just had one request for Dana White- give him his due if he ever fights and beats Jon Jones. This essentially means acknowledging Aspinall as the P4P #1 fighter since he beat the head honcho’s pick for the P4P king.
“But all I ask is like Dana White saying that ‘He’s [Jones is] the GOAT and the pound-for-pound number one. Yeah if I fight Jon Jones and beat him, he still has to be the pound-for-pound [number one]. You can’t start saying he’s old then. No. You can’t start ‘Oh he’s past it, he’s old, blah blah blah.’ Like if he’s the pound-for-pound GOAT or whatever, keep the same energy when I beat him please,” Aspinall added.
Of course, the chances of the Englishman ever fighting Jones at all are almost zero. After all, not only has ‘Bones’ shut down the interim champ’s call-outs at every step, all but said he will retire after his upcoming clash against Stipe Miocic, but even his coach Brandon Gibson has said that UFC 309 will probably be ‘Bones’ ‘last rodeo’.
However, Aspinall’s insistence to be called the P4P king should he beat Jones seems to be motivated by (righteous) pettiness since he doesn’t think these rankings are even a real thing.
Tom Aspinall explains why pound-for-pound rankings ‘don’t make sense’
Tom Aspinall doesn’t consider the fabled P4P rankings to be of any real substance. In the same interview, the interim heavyweight champ explained that there was just no way to assess how fighters at different weight classes would do against each other.
“Pound-for-pound’s a load of s**t anyway… I think there’s an argument for rankings. I think there’s not an argument for pound-for-pound rankings… It’s terrible,” he said.
Aspinall continued and gave the example of a hypothetical matchup between former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and Henry Cejudo at flyweight. ‘Honey Badger’ pointed out that if indeed Lesnar could somehow shrink down and face the former flyweight champ at 125 pounds, he would be a very distinct fighter with a different game plan than he employs at heavyweight.
“That’s a terrible argument, like you think Brock Lesnar is going to fight the same at flyweight as he does [at heavyweight]?” an exasperated Aspinall asked. “It doesn’t make any sense at all,” he concluded. What are your thoughts on Tom Aspinall’s demand to Dana White if he defeats Jon Jones?
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