The great career of Jon Jones saw a pretty unceremonious end after Dana White announced that he has decided to retire. For the fans who had been waiting for the fight against Tom Aspinall ever since UFC 295, it would have been better for ‘Bones’ to retire sooner. So, why didn’t the consensus GOAT do that? Well, his arch nemesis and Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier weighed in on the situation, exposing Jones’ real plan when it comes to his decision to retire.

After his UFC 285 return, Jon Jones seemed unstoppable as he shut Ciryl Gane down in pretty much a couple of minutes. He claimed his second divisional title, and for many, he was still at the top of his game. For Daniel Cormier, ‘Bones’ may have been thinking about continuing to do what he’s doing and pushing himself at an age when most fighters tend to retire due to a decline in their ability to compete against youngsters.

As such, Jon Jones continued to compete, fighting 2-time champion Stipe Miocic, and surprised everyone by claiming that he wasn’t going to retire anytime soon, even though he teased retirement after winning the heavyweight title in 2023. Daniel Cormier claims that Jones missed his chance to get a “fairytale ending” when he had the chance at UFC 309 because he was still battling mentally about his ability to beat Tom Aspinall, who’s been wrecking shop in the heavyweight division. But in the end, Jones decided to finally hang up his gloves for good.

“He could have said that a long time ago… But do you wanna know why he didn’t? Because he was thinking about doing it,” Daniel Cormier stated on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “He was trying to convince himself that he still could put in the work necessary to go beat this dude… It’s the truth. [That’s] the reason he didn’t say in November. It would have been a fairytale ending.”

Daniel Cormier’s point of view is interesting because Jon Jones retired once but came back after three years. The former two-weight champion might have thought he could push himself, and it worked out for him. But they might have had some doubts about fighting and beating Tom Aspinall; we can only guess what they were. Cormier also thought that Jones might have struck a deal with the UFC because he gets to fight Stipe Miocic, which is something he desired. Let’s check out that front.

Did Jon Jones make a deal with the UFC? Daniel Cormier speculates

There haven’t been many UFC champions that fought someone other than an interim champion in the past. Jon Jones did the same thing when he fought Stipe Miocic instead of Tom Aspinall at UFC 309. Miocic had been out of the ring for more than three years. ‘DC’ claims that ‘Bones’ might have begged the UFC to let him fight Miocic and then fight the English star as a means to pay them back. Of course, that didn’t happen. Cormier, on the other hand, thinks Jones still wanted to fight Aspinall, even though it never materialized.

“How many times do you get a champion that comes back after a long time? He doesn’t fight the interim champ, he fights a dude who hasn’t fought in three years.” Daniel Cormier further stated. “He probably said [to the UFC], ‘Hey, give me this one as a legacy, and I’ll give you the other.’ And when he fought that dude, Stipe, and got it done, he was like, ‘Okay, I can fight this [Aspinall] dude.'”

Well, this fight is certainly one of the biggest misses in UFC history, but we never know if Jon Jones ever comes back again like he did in 2023. After all, there have been some massive announcements, including a potential UFC event in the White House. Maybe we’ll see him fight Tom Aspinall there. Nevertheless, we can only assume for now, but in the meantime, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.