Despite not competing at UFC 313, Tom Aspinall has been widely regarded as the biggest winner of Alex Pereira’s UFC 313 loss. Both UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier and ex-UFC welterweight Ben Askren touched on the topic in one of the most recent videos uploaded to Cormier’s YouTube channel.
The logic behind the sentiment is fairly straightforward. Jon Jones was hoping to defend his heavyweight title against a stylistically easier opponent in Pereira, who would have called for the ‘Bones’ fight had he beaten Magomed Ankalaev in their light heavyweight title fight. Now, those plans have been dashed.
In short, Jones has no one else to face at heavyweight besides Aspinall, the interim champion in the division who has been chasing the matchup for quite some time now.
“Tom Aspinall was celebrating after Pereira lost, because he felt like Jon Jones could not use Pereira anymore as a crutch to try and make that fight.”
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Both Cormier and Askren seemed to be in relative agreement about the reality of Aspinall being helped by Pereira’s UFC 313 loss.
“That was very helpful to Tom Aspinall. I mean there’s nothing else obvious, now it’s Jones vs. Aspinall. There’s no other option. So he sees that as very helpful to him.”
Check out Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren’s thoughts on Alex Pereira’s loss benefitting Tom Aspinall (6:24):
There’s always been an uneasiness surrounding the matchup, although UFC CEO Dana White has been adamant that the fight will indeed be booked. Unfortunately, White has a history of failing to book certain superfights, so it is understandable that fans are reluctant to believe him.
Francis Ngannou vs. ‘Bones’ never happened, nor did Georges St-Pierre vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg, or Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko.
Jon Jones is reportedly requesting six months to prepare for Tom Aspinall
A recent rumor has emerged that Jon Jones has allegedly demanded six months to prepare for a bout with Aspinall. The request has raised eyebrows in the MMA community, as a half-a-year training camp is not only uncommon, it’s unheard of, if not a bit unusual.
This isn’t the only supposedly improbable demand Jones is said to have made. He is also rumored to have requested roughly $30 million as his fight purse against Aspinall.
Edited by Ricardo Viagem
