Jon Jones explains why he thinks "a**hole" Tom Aspinall doesn't deserve the opportunity to fight him: "He just played his cards wrong"
Jon Jones recently explained his decision to not face Tom Aspinall. Jones criticized Aspinall for his behavior toward him, stating that he would have considered fighting him if the Brit had been more respectful to him.
For context, Aspinall stepped in to face Sergei Pavlovich for the interim title after Jones withdrew from his first heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 due to a pectoral muscle injury.
Aspinall wasted no time in taking a dig at Jones on social media and in interviews following his victory, calling 'Bones' up for a title unification bout. However, the two-division champion dismissed Aspinall's remarks and remained steadfast in his desire to face Miocic.
When asked about his thoughts on a potential Aspinall fight at the UFC 309 media day, Jones responded by saying that although he was intrigued by the prospect of facing the reigning interim champion, he would not want to do business with him. He said:
''I'm being completely honest, I feel like Tom's [Aspinall] been such an a**hole that I don't want to do business with him. It's just like his fans have been so annoying... I'm like, bro, if you had a little bit more respect, then maybe we could have worked something out.
''I just don't even want to do business with him. At end of the day, this is a business and fighting me gives him an opportunity to change his life forever and I don't even want to give him the opportunity, like he just played his cards wrong with me personally.''
Check out Jon Jones' comments below (21:58):
Aspinall, who recently defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes via first-round knockout win at UFC 304, plans to attend Jones' heavyweight title matchup against Miocic this Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Jon Jones addresses accusations made by Tom Aspinall
Tom Aspinall has repeatedly accused Jon Jones of avoiding him, given that he is the interim champion and the two are expected to square it out for a title unification bout.
During the aforementioned UFC 309 media day, Jones stated that he is not ducking Aspinall because no negotiations for a fight with the 31-year-old ever took place.
''You can't duck a man that you were never scheduled to fight. It's like saying you got turned down by a girl who you never even hit on... So, I'm not ducking Tom Aspinall. If I failed to fight Stipe [Miocic], I would be ducking Stipe because we contractually have been signed up to fight over a year ago. The Tom narrative came out of nowhere. He won a belt and now suddenly I'm ducking him." [6:14]