"GOAT is running for his life" - Fans rally against Jon Jones as Tom Aspinall officially becomes longest reigning interim champion in UFC history

Tom Aspinall has made history curiously, and many MMA fans online are giving Jon Jones flak for it. The Tom Aspinall interim champion saga has seen him work his way into the record books as the longest interim titleholder in the promotion's history.

Aspinall's reign with the interim heavyweight belt has now lasted for 535 days, which usurps the previously held record of 534 days, held by then-interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao.

This was a stat initially shared by X account @JedKMeshew, which was then turned into a graphic by @ChampRDS. X users came out in droves to comment on this distinction for Aspinall and put the heavyweight champion Jon Jones on blast for this title unification bout taking this long to put together.

@michalczuk97 said:

"The worst part is that he could have had equally long undisputed title reign but the guy some called the GOAT [laughing emoji] is running for his life."

@AKRaven11 stated:

"Absolutely pathetic by the UFC. Strip Jon now."

@RC_320 quipped:

"What a joke"

[Screenshots courtesy: @ChampRDS on X]

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Tom Aspinall and his father are unhappy about the Jon Jones booking issues

Tom Aspinall and his father, Andy, can join the group of fans outlined above for being unhappy about this fight with Jon Jones still not getting booked. Aspinall has defended his interim belt the same number of times that Jones has defended his divisional hardware, with the former being out of the cage for close to a year now.

Still, though, the 32-year-old interim titleholder continues to dutifully train under his father, Andy, and stay ready. This was documented in a recent YouTube video that was posted on Aspinall's YouTube channel, with the father and son duo discussing some frustration with the present situation, despite people like Dana White feeling confident this fight will be booked in due time.

Andy Aspinall described it as a massive pain and says his son could do with more fights and citing how brief his last few fights have been, with Aspinall's last three contests lasting around the one-minute mark. After his father spoke of the importance of training with purpose for a specific opponent and also the realities of needing to make money, Tom Aspinall said [via Bloody Elbow]:

"We want some fight news, that's what we're after... I'm training twice a day as always, doing the physio, doing the stretching, recovering and doing everything that an elite athlete does every day with the competition bit. That part has nothing to do with me."