“I’m well bored with it. I’ve had enough. We either need to fight, or I need to move on to something else,” Tom Aspinall recently voiced his growing frustration about not getting his well-deserved unification bout against Jon Jones. Despite holding the interim heavyweight title for over 550 days (the longest interim title reign by the way), the Brit still finds himself sidelined, with the UFC yet to offer him a shot at undisputed gold.

Meanwhile, ‘Bones’ is off in Thailand, filming an MMA reality show opposite Nate Diaz—far from the Octagon and even further from addressing the division’s rising storm. Amid the silence, Team Khabib’s head coach, Javier Mendez, has broken ranks, suggesting why the heavyweight kingpin is acting this way.

While speaking with Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, the AKA head honcho pointed out that Jon Jones is the kind of guy who will never take a fight he doesn’t believe he can win, “Jon Jones is not the type of guy that likes to lose. He’s such a winner in every aspect of what he does that you’re not going to push him into a fight,” said Mendez.

He further added, “If he doesn’t feel he can win that fight and doesn’t have a good advantage, he’s not gonna take it. But Aspinall is one of those, ‘Do you really want to take this fight?’ I think the UFC is going to have to put a lot of money out there for Jon to say, ‘I’m down.” It goes without saying that this unification bout is a fight with the potential to generate revenue capable of feeding generations. This was evident when Dana White called it the biggest heavyweight in company history!

It’s not just the MMA community, but the entire combat sports world that’s eager to witness this clash. Yet, instead of making the fight happen, all we’ve heard are excuses—either from Jones or White. Many within the community have emphasized that the heavyweight champion has demanded an exorbitant confirmed fight purse from the UFC for his bout against Aspinall.

And the price, you ask? A rumored $30 million payout, which Jones referred to as “F– you money”. This number was first floated by Joe Rogan on his JRE Experience podcast and later supported by Ariel Helwani. Although the UFC commentator walked back on his statement and even quoted White saying that the rumors were “bu—hit”, we need to remember that the gargantuan amount is nothing new.

White himself quoted Jones’ demand of “Deontay Wilder” was in the neighbourhood of $30 million. This was before there was speculation of Jones taking on Francis Ngannou at 265lbs. Moreover, Chael Sonnen even argued that Jones’ alleged demand of this amount is justified as he hasn’t raked in that ‘retirement cash’ yet. “And Jon Jones has done great, but Jon Jones has not made walkaway money. This whole idea that Jon Jones is holding this up, or Jon Jones is not going to fight Tom, at this point, you don’t have that evidence. And it’s nothing more right now than speculation.”

Recently, during an Instagram Live session where the Bossman announced the plans for the summer, Dana White was asked about the timeline of the clash between Jones and Aspinall. The UFC CEO stated that discussions are underway and confidently asserted that the fight will definitely happen. “I told you guys already, we’ll get Aspinall vs. Jones done. The heavyweight fight will happen. Just relax, I’ll announce that soon,” said Dana White.

Well, it’s clear that the entire UFC is eager to make this fight happen, but are they willing to pay Jon Jones such exorbitant fees? That question remains unanswered. Interestingly, Daniel Cormier believes Jones will never even fight the Briton.

Daniel Cormier thinks Jon Jones might not face Tom Aspinall ever

Without much argument, many within the MMA community crown Jon Jones as the greatest of all time. However, his reputation has taken a serious hit recently due to ongoing allegations of ducking Tom Aspinall. But can you really blame him? Aspinall is a heavyweight who moves like a middleweight and hits like a Ford truck. With a professional record of 15 wins and 3 losses, he has finished 14 of his opponents in the very first round. An average fight time of 2 minutes and 2 seconds!

Talk about domination, and Aspinall’s name might echo around the MMA world. Looking at his impressive record, former two-division champion and longtime Jon Jones rival, Daniel Cormier, has come forward to suggest that Jones might never want to fight Tom Aspinall.

“I don’t know that [Jones] has gone through anyone like Aspinall, because Aspinall’s so big and young. That might be his only hesitancy. If I had to guess, I don’t think for a second Jon Jones is afraid of Tom Aspinall. The one thing Jon Jones has avoided that none of the other of us have is the visual of him getting finished.”

When you’ve been undefeated your entire career, the looming threat of defeat begins to haunt you like a demon, and Jon Jones might be going through exactly that. Will the UFC ultimately pay Jon Jones the $30 million he’s allegedly asking for, or are we about to witness another title relinquishment? The question remains unanswered — but what are your thoughts? Share your opinion in the comments below.