Renato Moicano theorizes how potential Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall fight could be influenced by UFC's ongoing TV deal negotiations
The delay behind Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall being announced could likely be due to the UFC trying to negotiate for a better TV deal. That is according to UFC lightweight standout Renato Moicano, who believes that the matchup is being used as leverage by the promotion.
The Brazilian star said as much in a recent interview with ufc-tv-deal-tom-aspinall-jon-jones-conor-mcgregor" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">MMA Fighting. Many have called for Jones to be stripped of the heavyweight belt due to his reluctance to unify the titles with Aspinall, who is the interim heavyweight champion. This likely won't happen because the UFC needs Jones.
According to Moicano, Jones is among the very few PPV draws left, and his star power is needed by the UFC, which is using him at the negotiating table when engaging possible suitors like Netflix.
"I think they're on this leverage with Jon Jones and [Conor] McGregor because of the [TV deal]. They need numbers to show Netflix. Who are the ones that sell? It's obviously McGregor first, then Jon Jones, and maybe Alex Pereira. But they need to have these numbers to be able to negotiation how much [the network] will pay. After the deal is done, f*ck it, brother. It's five more years with money on the pocket, and we think about all that later."
The promotion has been tight-lipped about the Jones vs. Aspinall bout, despite the Englishman's frustrations. UFC CEO Dana White, though, continues to assure fans that the fight will indeed happen, but there have been no true updates.
Jon Jones remains dismissive of Tom Aspinall
Despite having no intention of fighting him, Jon Jones continues to be dismissive of Tom Aspinall. The all-time great recently took to X/Twitter to taunt the Englishman over his past submission loss to Stuart Austin, which 'Bones' erroneously referred to as two submission losses:
"Unfortunately, my boy is not as special as his fan base thinks he is right now. I've seen Tom get tapped out twice now by two different people. Time will show. Here today gone tomorrow."
Unfortunately, in his attempt to discredit Aspinall, Jones made an incorrect claim, as Aspinall has just one submission loss on his record.