Despite calls for Jon Jones to surrender his UFC heavyweight title due to injury, fellow fighter Anthony Smith defends Jones’s right to retain the title while he recovers, citing his established record as one of the greatest fighters in MMA history.
Jon Jones, the UFC heavyweight champ, ain’t giving up his title anytime soon. Even as he’s nursing an injury, he’s got a message for interim champ Tom Aspinall. Jones has earned his stripes as one of the greatest fighters in MMA history, and he’s not about to forget it.
Now, UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith might not always see eye-to-eye with Jones. But when it comes to the topic of keeping the title after a torn pectoral muscle, Smith’s got Jones’ back. Jones was supposed to fight Stipe Miocic, but the injury sidelined him. Aspinall stepped in and won the interim title, but Jones is expected to return for the Miocic fight in 2024.
Aspinall’s been making noise about stripping Jones of the title. Smith, though, isn’t having it. He points out that Jones has earned some leeway. His career is a testament to fighting the best and leaving a trail of defeated contenders.
Smith’s got strong feelings about Jon Jones. “You all know how I feel about Jon Jones,” he said at UFC Vegas 83 media day. “I hate when you guys ask me questions where I have to say nice things about him. Jon Jones can do whatever the f*** he wants. Really. He’s earned that.”
Jones isn’t known for backing out of fights. Regardless of what people say, he’s always faced the challenge. “He’s always taken on the next best guy. I think in terms of him and Stipe, I think both those guys should be able to do whatever they want. I think that they’ve earned it. I think they deserve it.”
Jones’ injury knocked him out of UFC 295 last November. Miocic wasn’t even offered the chance to fight Aspinall or Sergei Pavlovich. UFC CEO Dana White felt it would be disrespectful to Miocic, arguably the greatest heavyweight in UFC history.
White’s plan? Keep Miocic on the sidelines until Jones is back in shape. Then, they can duke it out next year for the UFC title. This might rub some fighters the wrong way, Aspinall included. But Smith believes Jones vs. Miocic is a matchup that needs to happen, feelings be damned.
“Do we really want to miss another super fight?” Smith asked. “How long did we talk about Anderson Silva and [Georges St-Pierre]? Anderson and Jon Jones and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and whoever. We’ve been clamoring for these super fights. Now that we have the chance for one, everyone’s calling for Jon to get stripped of his title. Let’s not f*** this one up. Let’s just let him heal up.”
Smith gets the weirdness of the situation. Jones will return to fight Miocic while Aspinall holds onto the interim title. But that just shows the significance of the Jones-Miocic matchup.
Aspinall can keep himself busy fighting other contenders in the meantime. Jones and Miocic need to settle their score once and for all.
Smith sums it up. “I know it makes absolutely no sense for there to be an interim champion and Jon to defend against someone who’s not but we’re not like other sports,” he said. “We can kind of change the rules sometimes and just give the fans and the people what they want.”