The numbers don’t lie, and they’re now leaning toward Tom Aspinall. While Jon Jones remains the official UFC heavyweight champion, the court of popular opinion and murmurs of frustration have become much louder. And now, social media patterns are beginning to reflect that. The fans started voting—not with chants, but with the unfollow button.

The Briton’s rise is more than just victories inside the cage. Over the previous six months, he has gained a ton of new Instagram followers, accounting for more than 20% of his overall base of 1.4 million followers—a significant increase that suggests growing support from the MMA community and beyond.

Compare that to Jon Jones, who, despite having a significantly greater number of followers at 9.4 million, has been losing fans within the same time frame. According to the data provided by RedCornerMMA, Jon Jones’ steady decline began earlier this year, with approximately 3,600 people unfollowing him in the last month. The decline was gradual but consistent: from 9.55 million to 9.45 million.

As per an Instagram post shared on June 14, “While it can be argued that Jon’s and Tom’s social media numbers belong to different worlds (9.4M and 1.4M), the tendency since the beginning of 2025 shows the interim champion Aspinall gaining nearly 300,000 new followers, which equals 20% of his following. Meanwhile, the holder of the undisputed belt Jones has lost 87,000 followers. This isn’t a sizeable loss for him, but nevertheless can be seen as an indication of fans’ discontent. While Aspinall has recently scored some numbers within the MMA community.

Meanwhile, the Englishman increased from 1.2 to 1.46 million and at one point reached 1.6 million. It reveals who is on the rise and who is losing popularity. The reason?—Simple. Tom Aspinall has been chasing a fight. Jones has been avoiding it, with his last clash being exactly seven months ago vs Stipe Miocic at the UFC 309, which Jones won via a vicious TKO. And trust us when we tell you the absence has not gone unnoticed.

Despite being the undisputed champion, Jon Jones’ legacy talk and confusing messages about whether or not he will meet Tom Aspinall in the Octagon have become tiresome. A Change.org fan petition to strip him of the belt has already received over 190,000 signatures and counting. ‘The issue’ section read:

“Jon Jones is now the longest reigning champion in UFC heavyweight history and has only fought 2 times in that period. There is a clear interim champion, Tom Aspinall, who has defended his interim championship belt. Aspinall is ready to fight Jones. Jones refuses to fight him. Therefore, we as fans must let Dana White know: It is time to strip Jon Jones of the heavyweight title. He clearly has no intentions of fighting anytime soon.” 

And, just to give you an idea about how pissed off fans are, this was just one of many comments, “I’ve been a huge UFC fan since about 2006. I watch every PPV and tend to travel to 1-2 live events a year. At one time, Jon Jones was my favorite fighter. Hell, I had his shoes, even! This whole debacle is a stain to the sport. If Jon won’t fight Tom he needs to be stripped. Dana cannot keep playing favorites like this. It’s asinine. It’s wasting Toms prime, it’s unfair to other fighters, and quite frankly it’s ruining the sport. Love the UFC, but this is an issue and perhaps we all need to boycott it they won’t do something about it”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship takes pride in putting the best against the best. However, as long as this bout is in limbo, the narrative continues to shift. Aspinall is hungry and rising. ‘Bones,’ for all of his accomplishments, is starting to feel more like a placeholder than a champion.

The longer this goes on, the more obvious it seems that fans aren’t simply taking sides; they’ve already done so. In fact, even fighters are taking his side.

UFC fighters turn their backs on Jon Jones

The fans aren’t the only ones driving this shift in momentum. It’s also spreading inside the cage. More and more fighters—some still active, some long retired—have begun to come out, not only in support of Tom Aspinall but also in frustration with Jon Jones.

It’s no longer simply about the delayed battle; it’s about what that delay is beginning to represent. The more Jones stalls, the more his peers seem to view it as something deeper than strategy. Curtis Blaydes, who knows the heavyweight waters better than most, did not hesitate to express what many people are thinking.

Despite Dana White’s claim that Jones has agreed to the fight “in principle,” Blaydes does not believe it will ever materialize. “I do believe that’ll probably go to Gane because I don’t think Jon’s ever going to fight Aspinall,” he said. His explanations were not personal insults; they were reality checks.

Blaydes pointed out that Jones hadn’t really faced a prime heavyweight, claiming that Ciryl Gane had obvious grappling flaws and Stipe Miocic was just past his prime. Even more damning was his willingness to give Jones an out: “If Jon were to beat Tom, we would all be like, ‘OK, he legitimately is the GOAT’… and even if he lost, bro, we get it. You’re old. You’re not a real heavyweight. It’s OK. You can lose.”

Alexander Volkanovski, never one to sugarcoat things, shared a similar perspective. “If you’re the champ, you defend your belt—it’s a responsibility,” he stated, adding that legacy should not be used to freeze a division.

Volk’s sentiments were delivered with a kind of hesitant honesty: admiration for Jones’ resume, but also annoyance that brilliance does not entitle someone to avoid responsibility. “If you don’t want to fight, just retire. You’re done.” That is the loud and clear message from fans, fighters, and the heart of the sport.