One highly regarded MMA coach doesn’t believe Jon Jones purposely avoided fighting Tom Aspinall.
Jones retired from the sport rather than face Aspinall in a title unification bout. Dana White told reporters that “Bones” initially agreed to the fight but decided to hang up his gloves instead. Shortly after his retirement, Jones claimed he was back in the drug testing pool and has called for a spot on a potential UFC White House card. White has shut down that idea.
While fans on social media have been convinced that Jon Jones ducked Aspinall, American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez told MMAJunkie.com that he doesn’t believe this is the case.
“A lot of things are made in between negotiations, and you never know what’s real and what’s not real,” Mendez said. “One thing I do know in my heart in all the years I’ve been training fighters: Fighters are not afraid of anyone. So when people say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t want to fight.’ OK, then why are you here then? Fighters are fighters. The circumstances may prevent them from taking a fight because maybe there’s not the right amount of money, maybe is not this, but it’s not the opponent. The timing, money, something that’s involved, but it’s never I’m afraid of that fighter. Never. I will refuse to believe that any real fighter will always avoid something. I don’t think so. I don’t believe that.”
Aspinall, the newly minted undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, will put his gold at stake against Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 321 on Oct. 25 in Abu Dhabi. Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida will also be featured on the card in a bout that could determine a No. 1 contender for the winner of Aspinall vs. Gane. Time will tell how things shake out with the heavyweight division once UFC 321 concludes.
