“Get mental health counselling” - Fans react as Jon Jones snub Tom Aspinall fight citing “legacy”

Jon Jones has been facing a lot of criticism from the MMA community lately for turning down the prospect of fighting the interim champion Tom Aspinall. While the Brit has been calling on Jones for a title unification fight, 'Bones' believes that beating Tom Aspinall would do nothing for his legacy.

Jones recently took to X to clarify his stance:

The tweet made waves online, with fans voicing their disappointment in Jones' response with many suggesting that he is avoiding a matchup against a tougher opponent. The backlash grew as comments started to pour in, with one fan commenting:

"You seem insecure champ. Get mental health counseling."

Others wrote:

"But beating a middleweight who went up to LHW and has never fought at HW would do so so much more right."

"The appearance of ducking will now forever shade your legacy tho, so it's become a legacy issue my dude."

"His resume says he’s the interim champ Jon. You can’t spin it any other way. Retire without fighting him and you retire a coward."

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Jon Jones expresses interest in Alex Pereira fight over Tom Aspinall title unification bout

While fans are eager to see Jon Jones face Tom Aspinall in a title unification bout, 'Bones' believes that a fight with reigning light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira would do more for his legacy.

During a recent interview with sports journalist Kevin Iole, Jones explained why he isn't interested in a potential fight with Tom Aspinall if he beats Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 this weekend:

"More than likely not. I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don't want to say 'nobody', but he just hasn't proven anything. He hasn't done anything. And I understand that, I mean, he won his belt against Sergei [Pavlovich]. Sergei Just got slaughtered by someone else so it's like, I'm not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me. I'm here to compete against the guys where, when we look back ten years from now, it'll be like 'Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy and this legend and this champion."

Jones added:

"If there were to be a fight [with] a guy that's still on the UFC roster that would be, not only financially worth it, but 'legacy' worth it, it would be Alex Pereira."

Check out Jon Jones discuss his future below (7:56):