UFC Legend Has Unpopular Opinion on Jon Jones Vs Tom Aspinall 2026 What-If Fight

Despite arguably being considered the GOAT option in the fanbase, ex-UFC Heavyweight Jon Jones is catching full salvos of flak for avoiding Tom Aspinall. Jones retired this June without answering calls for a PPV title unifier for over a year, only to regress that retirement two weeks later. UFC veteran and Jones’ two-time former opponent Daniel Cormier has a new hot take on the matter.

Ex-UFC HW Jon Jones ended his retirement and entered the DFSI testing pool as soon as news of the upcoming “America 250” White House PPV card hit MMA outlets. ‘Bones’ is considerably an unreliable option for it, but reports training X5 times, weekly, for such a White House showdown. What made matters worse is that UFC boss Dana White said the fighter was getting his ask for a $30 Mil PPV compensation to fight Tom Aspinall, and still retired.

Given all that and the lack of goodwill, and the fact that Aspinall is a Next-Gen heavyweight, many fans have polled against Jones. Despite people widely regarding him as the all-time greatest, many fans believed that Aspinall would be his stiffest skills test; Daniel Cormier disagrees.

I have a hard time believing that he [Jones]would [need to] duck somebody, …cos he’s good, Jones. He’s just not necessarily interested in fighting the kid and I just don’t get that, I don’t get it… don’t think Tom Aspinall is that hard a matchup for him. It’s a tough fight of course but I don’t think it’s like so hard a match that he can’t win.

Daniel Cormier on ‘The Weekly Scraps’ Podcast on Aljamain Sterling’s YT Channel| The Daniel Cormier Interview (@FunkMasterUFC)

UK Native Aspinall provides a certain element of the unknown as opposed to Jon Jones and his brand of calm and quiet. Per UFC Record Books (statsleader.ufc.com), Tom Aspinall is indomitable with sufficient anti-wrestling and rules the leaderboards with minimum bottom time (downed in a scramble). He touts multiple first-round KOs, and his total fight time in all his octagon trips barely touches the 2:10 mark!

8-1 at this home run, inclusive of yet another first-round TKO win while defending his interim title, Aspinall is a different breed of UFC 265-pounder. But notwithstanding how contentious he is, Jones, with his wide array of Muay Thai shot selection, his NHSCA Senior All‑American wrestling prowess, years of accumulating Greco‑Roman Regional titles and sweet standup is a whole other ball game.

The UK vs. US narrative ratifies the independence treaty as it is, thus fitting the thematic “America 250” event perfectly if Jones and Aspinall were to fight. But then again, it’s the old school versus New-Gen heavyweight with somewhat different skillsets that makes the matter more interesting. If Aspinall won, it’d be a passing of the torch moment over the all-time pound-for-pound great. If Jones endured another era, it’d be a logic-defying legacy. Cormier is all here for it; matter of fact, he is all here for his former rival making that fight.

Rival Daniel Cormier supports the purport of ‘Bones’ on 2026 White House Mega card

Daniel Cormier has faced the Jackson’s MMA Acoma Team fighter twice. However, Jones’ KO at the UFC 214 grudge rematch setting was overturned due to a positive test for turinabol metabolite. His PED troubles, legal run-ins, DUI, and other stuff included, DC has often bumped his dark history to lay Jon Jones to waste.

Now a PPV play-by-play broadcaster and ESPN MMA host, Cormier also weighed in on how continually avoiding Tom Aspinall, presumably an easy fight for the GOAT, blemishes his legacy. That is because despite their heated rivalry and long-lasting friction, Cormier has lauded Jon Jones and his longetivity. To that end, he thinks his five-round battle experience and all-out matches against the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, and Dominick Reyes have set him apart.

To that end, Cormier supports that the American staple should make the blockbuster White House card.

Daniel Cormier DEFENDS Jon Jones and says he SHOULD be on the White House card

“Dana seems like he’s not gonna back down and allow him on this White House card, if I’m being honest, I don’t agree, I would let him fight.”

via @dc_mma / h/t @Home_of_Fightpic.twitter.com/SPIvPjsgHd

— ACD MMA (@acdmma_) September 20, 2025

But it’s not that easy. Tom Aspinall, now the default UFC undisputed champ, has snubbed the requirement of a Bones fight. Even among other peers/analysts, Jones is catching flak as a has-been who last fought a fulltime firefighter on a three-year hiatus (Stipe Miocic; firefighter out of Valley View FD, Westlake Fire Dept. Ohio).

This was Jones’ second fight at heavyweight in a five-year span and trip to the octagon. His performance against Reyes was contentious with many scoring it the other way. Then comes the fact that he took a massive U-Turn on the agreed $30 Mil payday and left UFC Execs hanging. The 38-year-old wasn’t the strongest, legit champion when he retired and a road back to UFC is looking tough.

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