Conor McGregor does not think Jon Jones is ducking Tom Aspinall. Jones, the heavyweight champion of the UFC, is gearing up to face legendary champion and Dana White‘s pick for heavyweight GOAT, Stipe Miocic, in the latter half of this year.

Their ‘Battle of the GOATs’, as some have dubbed it, has been described by Jones as “the most important fight” of his career. A legacy-defining fight against the former heavyweight champion will undoubtedly go a long way towards cementing Jones as a great heavyweight champion, as he earned his GOAT stripes over a decade at light heavyweight. However, the presence of Tom Aspinall, who became the interim champion as Jones has been recovering from injury, has complicated things, with many accusing Jones of ducking Aspinall. But Conor McGregor thinks that is nonsense.

Conor McGregor feels Aspinall still has a long way to go before facing Jones

Tom Aspinall, who became the interim champion at UFC 295 (where ‘Bones was originally supposed to face Miocic but pulled out due to an injury), has complicated matters. Ever since the Englishman spectacularly knocked out knockout artist and heavyweight boogeyman Sergei Pavlovich at the Madison Square Garden card last November, fans have been calling for Jones to fight Aspinall. As time has gone on, the takers for Jones-Miocic have only decreased.

Almost everybody in the combat sports world, including Jones’s peers, has been pointing out that it is tradition and unwritten law, especially in the UFC, that the champion faces the interim champion to unify the title. And Jones’s refusal to fight Aspinall has fans accusing ‘Bones’ of ducking the young and dangerous Englishman. However, Conor McGregor, asked about this in a recent Kick livestream, dismissed any talk of ducking.

“Thoughts on Jones avoiding [Tom] Aspinall? Who the… You know, I disagree with that. I think the Jones-Stipe fight is huge. Excited to see it. And, you know, there’s a long way to go for the English lad to come up and get that, I feel. I think the matchmaking has been stellar. I think Curtis [Blaydes] and Tom is a good fight and, you know, we’ll see after that,” ‘Mystic Mac’ said.

‘Notorious’ predicted that, despite all of the recent hate directed towards it, Jones-Miocic will be a massive fight. Aspinall, McGregor felt, needed to do more to prove himself before he could fight the GOAT contender. He did, however, say he found Aspinall’s upcoming fight with Curtis Blaydes in the UFC 304 in his hometown of Manchester a good matchup, even as he trashed the rest of the card later.

Conor McGregor trashes Edwards-Muhammad UFC 304 title bout

In the live stream, Conor McGregor trashed the upcoming UFC 304 card, headlined by a welterweight title clash between champion Leon Edwards and #2 welterweight Belal Muhammad. ‘Notorious’ felt that since both men have had their fair share of decisions in their careers and weren’t exactly known for being knockout artists, the fans would not be very interested in it as it is likely to be a snoozefest.

The bombastic Irishman ominously predicted that Manchester would be a flop and do no more than 150k PPV buys if that. “Leon Edwards loves a decision. And then he’s fighting another f***ing decision guy, your man Belal, so not great times in the welterweight title picture,” he said on Kick. Do you agree with McGregor on Jones-Aspinall and UFC 304? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.