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Jon Jones hasn't fought since UFC 309 but remains a hot topic in the MMA news sphere. This time, Islam Makhachev's coach, Javier Mendez, who also serves as the head coach at the American Kickboxing Academy, detailed one possible reason that could be keeping 'Bones' from facing Tom Aspinall.
A fight between Jones and Aspinall has been repeatedly called for by the UFC fandom. Jones, however, remains resistant to the idea, despite teasing it in his UFC 309 post-fight interview.
Mendez believes he knows the reason why, sharing his perspective with fellow coach Tim Welch, to whom he said:
"Jon Jones is not the type of guy that likes to lose. He's such a winner in every aspect of what he does that you're not going to push him into a fight. If he doesn't feel he can win that fight and doesn't have a good advantage, he's not gonna take it. But Aspinall is one of those, 'Do you really want to take this fight?' I think the UFC is going to have to put a lot of money out there for Jon to say, 'I'm down.'"
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Check out Javier Mendez's thoughts on Jon Jones' reluctance to fight Tom Aspinall (45:46):
While UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly assured fans that the highly anticipated Jones-Aspinall clash will happen, there has been little to no movement regarding it.
Jones himself recently dismissed fan accusations that he is ducking Aspinall but said nothing about his next fight.
Meanwhile, Aspinall himself has grown increasingly frustrated and has even started contemplating other fights, which may very well be what Jones intended.
Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall have crossed paths before
Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall haven't had many physical interactions, but the two did cross paths once at a fitness expo that the reigning UFC heavyweight champion was attending.
Aspinall filmed the encounter and even tried to persuade Jones to take part in an impromptu face-off, which was rebuffed.
Check out Jones' encounter with Aspinall:
Unfortunately, little else has come of it. Jones continues to be evasive, and the matchup seems no closer to taking place than it was before Aspinall became the interim heavyweight champion.
