Jon Jones` retirement has drawn criticism that he`s avoiding a fight with Tom Aspinall, but fellow UFC legend Matt Brown doesn`t buy into that idea.
Brown believes, based on his own experience, that a fighter`s past mistakes are almost always forgotten over time. He expects this to be true for Jones` legacy now that he has ended his career. Despite the widespread desire to see Jones fight Aspinall, Jones` extensive body of work means his decision to retire won`t ultimately damage his reputation in the long term.
Speaking on a recent episode of *The Fighter vs. The Writer*, Brown shared his view: “Jon`s a smart guy. He knows in a year, two years, no one`s going to remember what this narrative was. It`s going to all be forgotten. The division`s going to move on, the UFC`s going to move on and we`re going to forget there was this seven-month stagnant period, and Jon Jones is still going to be the greatest ever.”
Brown added, “On his end, he`s like `say whatever you want, it`s all going to be forgotten, I`m the greatest, I can do whatever I want,` and if I was in his shoes, I`d probably say the same damn thing.”
If anything, Brown feels that Jones waiting seven months after his victory over Stipe Miocic to announce his retirement primarily disadvantages Tom Aspinall more than anyone else.
While Aspinall has now been elevated to undisputed heavyweight champion, he lacks a wide range of truly compelling opponents. He went from potentially facing arguably the sport`s greatest fighter to a series of potential matchups where Aspinall is expected to be a significant favorite.
Following Jones` retirement, oddsmakers quickly placed Aspinall as a 3-to-1 favorite over Ciryl Gane, who appears to be his most probable next opponent. Brown shrewdly notes that Jones dominated Gane in his heavyweight debut, and this will inevitably be brought up again if Gane becomes Aspinall`s first defense as the undisputed champion.
“It`s almost like Jon has something against Tom Aspinall,” Brown remarked. “Like he just wanted to completely ruin his life in every way possible, and he`s doing a great job of it. It puts Tom in a tough spot. He`s definitely the biggest loser in this whole thing. It makes it difficult for him.”
Brown questioned Aspinall`s future path: “Like where does he go from here? He fights Ciryl Gane, the guy Jon beat in two minutes? Or Jailton Almeida? Almeida lost to [Curtis Blaydes]. The heavyweight division isn`t what it was.”
Brown contends that Jones` tenure at light heavyweight concluded somewhat uneventfully, with fights that seemed uninteresting to him. However, Jones benefited from entering the UFC when the division had a long list of top contenders, all of whom he eventually defeated.
Jones` move to heavyweight was simply an additional achievement on top of his already impressive career.
Unfortunately, Aspinall doesn`t have this advantage because the talent pool in the heavyweight division has been significantly depleted in recent years, and there isn`t a strong influx of new, exciting prospects either.
“Jon ruined the freaking light heavyweight division,” Brown stated. “He knocked out all the legendary guys that we thought would give him [a fight] like `Shogun` [Mauricio Rua] and `Rampage` [Quinton Jackson] and Rashad Evans and then Daniel Cormier and then the tail end of his light heavyweight run it`s [Thiago] Santos, who he arguably lost to, [Dominick] Reyes, who he arguably lost to. It just went kind of uninteresting later on. But Tom is kind of starting right there with being uninteresting. The heavyweight division is supposed to be the division all the fans want to go watch. I don’t know how interested we’d be in watching Tom fight these guys.”
He drew a comparison: “It`s basically like these women`s divisions. You`ve got one or two that make the worthy contenders and then it drops to like does this person have a chance? It`s a tough division right now. I`m not sure what the UFC`s going to need to do to step that up. Are they going to call Brock Lesnar back maybe?”
Joking aside, Aspinall can still accumulate title defenses, which could distinguish him within the heavyweight division, but the caliber of his opposition will remain a factor in his overall legacy.
This is similar to the situation with Demetrious Johnson, who is rarely placed at the very top of all-time greats lists. Despite his 11 consecutive title defenses, the flyweight division was generally not considered as deep as the light heavyweight division Jones dominated or the welterweight division where Georges St-Pierre competed.
Jones might face some criticism now for potentially avoiding a fight with Aspinall, but in reality, he may have simply denied Aspinall the chance to significantly bolster his own legacy by facing a top-tier opponent, given the current state of the heavyweight division.
“I just think Jon doesn’t give a shit,” Brown concluded. “He’s out partying. He’s living his best life. I don’t think it has anything to do with him thinking that he’s going to have a hard time with Tom Aspinall, which I do think he would as a matter of fact, but I don’t think it has anything to do with that.”
Brown believes, “I think he’s a party animal and he’s got millions of dollars in the bank and he’s set for life. He’s like `why should I go fight?`”
