A former heavyweight contender has claimed that Jon Jones is not the best in the division, despite being world champion.
Jones defeated Ciryl Gane last year at UFC 285 to become a two-weight world champion, but was forced out of his first title defence against Stipe Miocic in November with an injury. Since then he has returned to training, but is going to wait until the end of the year to rebook that matchup.
In the meantime, the UFC have crowned an interim champion in Tom Aspinall. He knocked out Sergei Pavlovich to win the belt, and will already have a defence against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 under his belt by the time Jones is getting back in the cage.
Former UFC star says Tom Aspinall, not Jon Jones, is best heavyweight in the world
For ex-UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, Aspinall has proven himself over the last few years to be the true best in the division. He believes that the Brit is being avoided by top names, including Jones and Gane who both are seemingly not interested in fighting him.
Gane is set to work on a movie this summer and has turned down a chance at the interim belt. Meanwhile, Jones is entertaining a bout with light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira instead of unifying the division.
“You’re going to hear this narrative going around from Jon Jones himself, Ciryl Gane and their fans that Tom Aspinall doesn’t deserve it,” Schaub said on his show Thiccc Boy. “They’ll say he’s not a real champion, all this stuff.
“Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in the world and anything that you hear from these other camps that represent these other heavyweights? Nobody wants to fight Tom!
“However you want to paint it, oh he hasn’t beat this guy or done this? Whatever makes you feel good to not make this fight is okay, but at the end of the day I don’t think we’ve ever seen fighters at this level scared of another fighter.”
Brendan Schaub accuses Jon Jones of picking ‘easy fight’ over Tom Aspinall
While Jones’ upcoming meet with Miocic is an intriguing one, the selling point that it’s an icon of the sport against the best heavyweight of all time is a weak effort. Miocic is now 43 and hasn’t fought in the three years since he was viciously knocked out by Francis Ngannou.
And Schaub reckons that Jones is hand-picking opponents, starting with his vacant title fight against Gane in March of last year. “I’m just being honest, nobody wants to fight Tom Aspinall,” he continued.
“If Tom Aspinall was an easy fight they would fight. Notice Jon jumped very quick to fight Ciryl Gane? Because there’s an easy path to victory, get him down and the guy can’t wrestle, he’s a white belt in jiu-jitsu.
“That’s easy and he proved that. It’s a walk in the park. Stipe? One of the best to ever do it, but Stipe is older, it’s an easier fight. Tom Aspinall? Not an easy fight, savage, best heavyweight in the UFC currently right now and nobody wants to fight him.”