“I’m also ready to see Jon hang it up, you know. Put the belt up. I’d prefer him to walk away obviously earlier than later”: Jon Jones’ coach Brandon Gibson before the UFC 309.

“As far as my future in the Octagon, I decided that maybe I will not retire and that I have some conversations that I have to have with Dana (White) and Hunter (Campbell) and we have some negotiating to do. And if everything goes right, maybe we’ll give you guys what you want to see,”: Jon Jones after winning in the UFC 309.

Confused? We all are. Unlikely that Jones will clear the air anytime soon. So the question descended to Jones’ coach. On Inside Fighting podcast, Gibson faced the same question that probably a UFC fan will surely ask the one next to them at the moment.

Gibson was asked,

Gibson remarked in the podcast, “I don’t think that moment in the octagon, with a career like Jon’s, is the moment where you decide that. A lot was predicated on how the fight with Stipe was going to go. Thankfully, we came out without any injuries. Jon is in great shape, in great spirits, and he’ll always be a martial artist as well so even if John never fights again much like Georges St Pierre you know I’m sure you’ll always see him training in videos and and sharing his knowledge as well.”

Meanwhile, during fight week, the 37-year-old teased the possibility of a super-fight against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Jones even went on to claim that he would vacate the heavyweight title to fight Pereira next for a newly integrated heavyweight BMF title. “Fighting Pereira for the BMF belt, that’d be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes. The night we fought, we’d both be fighting for our third belt, which would be the BMF. How cool would that be?” John had said. 

Amping up the heat further, ‘Poatan’ shared a picture of White holding the BMF belt on Instagram and wrote, “Chama My brother let’s make them wait.” Referring to this, in the conversation, Gibson was asked about how he looked at the fight.

 “I don’t know if John would ever go back down to 205. He could if he chose to but man I think that’s a great stylistic matchup. Pereira has such dynamite in his hands and with his kicks, incredible pressure, Championship just mentality and to see what he’s accomplished and the streak he’s been on is something that has us excited to go and and try to figure out and solve that that puzzle,” the coach said. For the unversed, Pereira is on a 5-fight winning streak and has defended his light heavyweight title thrice in the UFC 300 (April), UFC 303 (June), and UFC 307 (October). But we all know, that is not the ask of the fans.

Ahead of the UFC 309, when Dana White said “The winner [of the Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic fight] should absolutely fight Tom,” the audience just could not stop roaring. The loud cheer had even brought a smile on the face of Jon, sitting beside White. However, Jones has repeatedly dismissed that. So, a conversation with his coach could have gone without discussing that.

Brandon Gibson shed light on why Tom Aspinall’s record-breaking average fight time might actually play to Jones’ advantage in a potential matchup. “Aspinall is a great interim champ; he’s had an impressive heavyweight career so far,” the coach remarked. “There are still a lot of unknowns about him, which could work in his favor—or work in ours. How will he handle deep waters? How will he perform in later rounds? There’s likely to be pressure on him to start fast, and that could play into our strategy.”, Gibson further added.

He also emphasized Jones’ unmatched fight IQ and versatile skill set as key factors in overcoming younger opponents like Aspinall. Jones has a history of solving complex challenges against elite fighters like Glover Teixeira, Alexander Gustafsson, and Dominick Reyes, turning the tide in his favor with strategic brilliance. But will the fight ever happen? It might, with some riders!

For Jon Jones, money matters

Many of the fans think that Jones is ducking the Tom Aspinall fight, and that is harming his legacy. After all, Tom Aspinall is definitely one of the upcoming challenges in the division. But here is a twist. Jones actually might fight Aspinall, but for a price.

“I just don’t like him and at the end of the day, if I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated-I want to say it, I want that ‘f–k you’ money, honestly. That’s just what it is. Or else my life is perfect without him. I don’t need him at all and he needs me and that’s a good place to be in a negotiation,” Jones has said. How big is the amount? Well, a lot, to say the least.

Brendan Schaub, who thinks Jon “doesn’t need to beat Aspinall to be considered the greatest of all time,” said on ‘The Fighter and The Kid’ podcast days back, “He made six [million] for this [fight against Stipe Miocic]. So, I bet he’s going to ask for like 15 to 20 mil. It’ll be the biggest UFC heavyweight title fight of all time. They could do it at the Wembley Stadium. They could do it anywhere they want but you gotta pay him that.” 

Notably, Jon Jones’ base salary for the Stipe Miocic fight was $6,29,2000. That makes it the third highest-paid fight as per The Sportster and Bet MGM. However, asking for this amount of money is also viewed as an attempt to avoid the fight. Schaub is absolutely disgusted with the argument.

“You finally have a guy who has a leg up on the UFC and can do that. He doesn’t need anyone or anything to be considered the greatest of all time, and all he’s asking is, ‘Pay me like I’m the greatest of all time’. People are like, ‘You’re ducking him, just get in there with him it’s the right thing to do’, shut up!” Schaub had said a few days back in his YouTube channel. We don’t know if the fight is going to happen at all or not, but the build-up could not have been more interesting.