Aspinall excludes Jones from the fight for the best fighter in history

Tom Aspinall remains tireless in his quest to make the long-awaited fight against Jon Jones in the UFC a reality in 2025. The Brit, owner of the interim heavyweight title, constantly questions the courage of the category's linear champion in facing him due to his refusals . Now, the Brit has gone further and challenged the status of 'Bones', classified by part of the MMA community as the best fighter of all time.

In an interview with the 'YouTube' channel 'Piers Morgan', Aspinall excluded the American from the debate to define the number one fighter in the history of the sport. It is worth noting that Jones dominated the UFC's light heavyweight division (39 kg) for years, beat legends of the sport and became heavyweight champion. However, the athlete was also involved in several controversies on a personal and professional level.

Between 2015 and 2018, Jones failed repeated drug tests and was stripped of the light heavyweight belt three times. With the blemish on his resume, a portion of MMA fans and professionals do not consider 'Bones' the best fighter in history. And Aspinall is part of this group, as he defends the idea that the competitive position should be occupied by an athlete with a 'clean record' in the sport.

“Jon is absolutely escol and I agree with the idea that he is one of the best fighters of all time, possibly the greatest. But the way I see it is that he failed some drug tests. For me, it stops you from being the best of all time. If you're using steroids or something like that, I don't think he was using steroids, but he was using performance-enhancing drugs. If you are using it and your opponent is not, this is absolutely cheating in my book”, declared the athlete.

Aspinall's MMA record

Tom Aspinall, 31 years old, is one of the best MMA fighters today. The Brit began his career in the sport in 2014, debuted in the UFC in 2020 and won the interim heavyweight belt in 2023.

In his career, the athlete built a record consisting of 15 victories, all of which were quick victories (12 by knockout and three by submission), and three defeats. His main triumphs were over Alexander Volkov, Andrei Arlovski, Curtis Blaydes, Marcin Tybura, Sergei Pavlovich and Serghei Spivac.