"Everyone’s the next big thing until I beat them" - Jon Jones silences rising voices of competition with a savage reminder
UFC heavyweight king Jon Jones has sent a message to the rising heavyweight contenders on social media.
'Bones' uploaded a post on Twitter where he called out people who tend to discredit his opponents after the 36-year-old has beaten them inside the octagon.
Jones did so by giving the recent example of his victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.
“Everyone’s the next big thing until I beat them. And then it’s like well, who was that guy anyway? Just a few months ago (Ciryl) Gane was the absolute future of MMA. Best foot work, fastest heavyweight we have ever seen. The most athletic. Now everyone’s like who the hell is that guy?” wrote Jon Jones.
Jones later proceeded to delete the post but you can see a screenshot of the tweet below:
A message from Jon Jones was posted and deleted, seemingly taking aim at Tom Aspinall ( @AspinallMMA ) and the people hyping him up as the future UFC heavyweight champion. pic.twitter.com/zznGSEvcnU
After being out of action for more than three years, Jones returned to the UFC and made his heavyweight debut in March 2023. 'Bones' locked horns against Gane for the vacant title and comfortably defeated him via guillotine choke in the first round.
Jones also won the 'Performance of the Night' bonus that night and took home an additional cheque of $50,000.
Jones is now scheduled to take on former champion Stipe Miocic next for his first heavyweight title defense at UFC 295. The event will be held on November 11 at the prestigious Madison Square Garden in New York.
Tom Aspinall speaks about his plan to fight Jon Jones
There are currently several rising contenders in the UFC's heavyweight division. One promising name among them is Tom Aspinall, who is coming off a spectacular first-round knockout victory against Marcin Tybura at UFC London.
After the victory, Aspinall spoke to Michael Bisping for his post-fight octagon interview and laid out his plan to fight Jon Jones for UFC gold.
The 30-year-old said that he intends to attend the Ciryl Gane vs. Segey Spivak fight in Paris, and then prevail over the winner of the bout. Aspinall also hoped to get a title shot against Jones and defeat him as well.
"I'll tell you exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go to Paris, I'm gonna be sat front row for Ciryl Gane vs. Sergey Spivak, I'm gonna beat the winner and then I'm gonna beat Jon Jones."
Watch the video below from 1:30: