Back in 2009, a young and dominant Jon Jones was dismantling Matt Hamill when he made a crucial error—he threw a 12-6 elbow, a move deemed illegal at the time. Referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight, and in a stunning twist, awarded the victory to Hamill. It remains the lone loss on Jones’s otherwise perfect record. Fast forward to last year, Dana White overturned the ban on 12-6 elbows, officially legalizing the strike. The UFC community, along with Jones himself, reignited the debate, pushing to have his record amended to reflect an undefeated career. But in a surprising turn, ‘Bones’ now seems to have changed his tune.

More than a decade after the Hamil vs. Jones fight, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) and Combative Sports Mixed Martial Arts Committee decided to lift the ban last year. This prompted Jon Jones to urge the UFC CEO to overturn his lone defeat. “Undefeated then, undefeated now… @danawhite, we’ve got to get that loss out of the history books,” Jones wrote on Instagram.

During his conversation with Victor Fontanez on DeepCut with VicBlends, Jon Jones revealed that he has no intentions to overturn the loss.“The promoter in me says that that ‘O’ should be removed from my record. That way, I could be truly marketed as an undefeated fighter. But the athlete in me knows that rules are rules, and at the time, when I was disqualified, 12 to 6 elbows were illegal. So, I broke the rule, and I paid the cost by having a loss. It just is what it is. Can’t cry over spilt milk.”

It appears Jon Jones had to swallow the tough pill as he demanded rectification of the promotion’s errors, but the reality is that it’s too late to overturn it. As per Ariel Helwani, “Worth noting, Jon Jones can appeal his 2009 loss to Matt Hamill to get it overturned into a no contest (not a win), but it *might* be too late since that was almost 15 years ago.”

Well, if the promotions revoke his loss, then the fighter would have a perfectly clean record of 29-0, just like Khabib Nurmagomedov. But alas, that won’t happen. Speaking of defeats, in his recent comments, Jones has stated that he might never want to face defeat.

Jon Jones reveals his thoughts on losing his MMA fights

The Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall fight still hangs in limbo, with the entire MMA community waiting for the UFC CEO to keep his word and make it happen. However, we have yet to receive any concrete evidence confirming the bout. In his conversation with VicBlends, Jon Jones gave us some worrisome updates when he talked about facing losses in one’s career.

 “I don’t think I can ever be a person who loves fighting as a non-winner. For me, I’m so connected to winning. It’s probably not even healthy, you know. I see fighters that take losses, and they smile and they hug their wives… ‘Hey, better luck next time,” said Jon Jones.

He further added, “If I were to ever lose, I would be devastated. I’d be angry. I’d be upset and depressed. That’s just my winning nature. For me, it’s do it with all your heart. Do it at the highest level. Do it to the best of your ability or don’t do it at all.” 

So does this mean that he’s not fighting Tom Aspinall? His words right now, and his radio silence on whether he’d oblige Tom Aspinall to a title unification bout, are telling signs. Still, for fans, it’s a not concrete ‘yes or a no.’ Until there’s a proper announcement, all we can do as fans is speculate.

Given that, what are your thoughts on the hubbub? State your opinion in the comments below.