Jon Jones remains an enigma when it comes to his future in the UFC.
The reigning heavyweight champion has the entire combat sports world waiting with bated breath to find out if he’s actually going to compete again with a highly anticipated showdown against Tom Aspinall still lingering in the air. Most recently, UFC CEO Dana White said he expected to have a definitive answer on Jones vs. Aspinall in “the next couple of weeks’ and if the fight isn’t finalized, the promotion plans to move forward on a different matchup right away.
While his latest interview was conducted prior to those comments, Jones sounded very uninterested in booking a fight right now against anybody.
“I don’t want to say that I’m retired because fighting’s in my blood,” Jones told the Full Send podcast. “Right now, I could really care less about fighting. I’ve been doing it my whole life at a very high level and when the itch comes back — and if it comes back — then I’ll do it with my whole heart, do it to the best of my abilities.
“But right now, I look around and realize what’s true, what’s real. I see the way people look at me and the way I make people feel and it’s an extraordinary thing. It’s a true blessing. Now my job is to serve that, give that to my fans, be reachable, touchable. Let them know what I have inside. That’s who I am right now. I’ve punched and kicked enough people.”
As far as Aspinall goes, Jones actually paid him a compliment but also issued a rather chilling warning to the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion — be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.
“I think he’s awesome,” Jones said about Aspinall. “I think he should go on and have a wonderful career.
“No, I don’t think he needs me. I think when want something bad enough and if you get it, it can be the worst thing that ever happened to you.”
It’s a bit of a mixed message from Jones when it comes to his fighting future because as much as it appears that he’s not rushing back to the octagon, he’s seemingly heard the constant callouts and comments from Aspinall.
In his most recent tirade, Aspinall went as far as claiming that that Jones was already retired and he declared himself the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.
That said, Jones knows whatever he says is going to make headlines and nothing happens by accident when he’s addressing Aspinall or his future in the sport.
“I love being the ultimate troll,” Jones said. “I’m in a spot right now where I’m really enjoying the fruits of my labor. All the hard work that I put in. He’s not in a position to excite me. It’s just the truth.
“Because if I whoop his ass, it’s going to be the next guy. There’s going to be a whole new fan base of somebody who everybody believes in. I’ve done this my whole adult life. I remember ‘Rampage’ [Quinton Jackson] fans years ago, Rashad [Evans] fans and Lyoto [Machida] fans, I’ve literally replayed this story so many times in my life.”
Of course, Jones has seen the blowback from fans about the continued wait about whether or not he’s going to ultimately fight Aspinall in a matchup that could be the biggest fight in the history of the UFC heavyweight division.
From online petitions asking the UFC to strip the title away from him to calls for his retirement, Jones has heard it all but he has no problem weathering the storm.
“I’m a company guy and there’s a lot of things that’s happening behind the scenes where my job is just to sit and be still and take the punishment,” Jones said.
“My job for the UFC is to do what’s right for the company. I could easily just say I’m not fighting. My job is to chill and that’s what I’m doing.”
For all the questions about his future, Jones eventually confessed that he does expect to compete again but there’s no timeline when that might actually happen. It’s likely that response is the one that’s going to get under Aspinall’s skin the most.
“I think I will fight again in the future,” Jones said. “I think I will fight again. Where the future of combat sports is going, it’s going to be amazing when I pop back up. But right now I’m just focused on so many other things like family, like building my house, like building this brand.”
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