UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has hit back at a fan who called him MMA’s Jake Paul. ‘Bones’, who will fight former champion and Dana White‘s pick, the heavyweight GOAT, Stipe Miocic sometime this year, has faced significant criticism from fans and analysts for his refusal to fight the interim champion, Tom Aspinall.

Jones and Miocic were scheduled to fight at the top of UFC 295 last November. However, an injury forced the champ to pull out, and the UFC booked Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title instead. And since Aspinall emerged victorious, Jones is under relentless pressure to face the interim champion, as it is a tradition for any champion returning from injury.

‘Bones’, however, is not interested. In addition, given that Miocic is 41 years old, hasn’t fought for the past four years, and has virtually retired, some feel that bout is all but meaningless. One fan took to Twitter and told Jones precisely this, ridiculing the matchup: “Nobody wants to see this fight, Jones looking to fight retired fighters for the easy win, he’s MMA’s version of Jake Paul.”

To which Jones surprisingly responded, trashing any concerns about the former champion’s health and shape based upon a recent interview he saw of Miocic.“I just watched an interview Stipe did recently, he looked incredibly healthy and fit. Sounded enthusiastic and motivated. The disregard you guys have for Stipe and everything he’s accomplished is beyond me. You fans are hysterical. To call the current best heavyweight in our sports history a retired firefighter is crazy. I would hate to be him reading all this shit,” Jones responded via X.

In addition to dismissing any concerns about his upcoming with Miocic, and even floating a possible fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira for the heavyweight title, Jones has been particularly acerbic towards Aspinall, who had done his best to convince Jones to fight him before reading the writing on the wall and giving up. Now, the Englishman will try to avenge the only loss on his UFC record (because of a freak injury) with a rematch against Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes. And ‘Bones’ has used this as ammunition to take another shot at the Englishman.

Jon Jones makes fun of Aspinall for co-main event booking at UFC 304

Since a Jon Jones bout is not on the table for Tom Aspinall, the interim champion will rematch ‘Razor’ in the co-main event of UFC 304 on July 27 near his hometown in Manchester, England. The announcement of this fight was used by Jones to ridicule the Englishman, pointing out that the latter was not even the main event of UFC 294, and somehow claiming that justified his decision to duck Aspinall.

“Trolls telling me I’m slowing down the division by getting injured. Meanwhile, the next two heavyweights aren’t even a main event? interesting. I’m on the right path, I got until November to remind the world. Again,” he wrote. Interestingly, in this tweet, the GOAT contender hinted that he would return to action in November. This reinforces the claim he made earlier in a now-deleted tweet, where the champion had revealed that he would be fighting in November at the iconic Madison Square Garden.

Who do you think is right, Jones or the fan? Drop your views in the comments.