Din Thomas is frustrated with how the Jon Jones saga has played out.
Just days before Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) announced his retirement, Thomas told MMA Junkie that he was confident the Tom Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) fight would happen, and that it was all just a marketing ploy from the former UFC heavyweight champion.
Well, Thomas was wrong – or was he? As Jones has already decided to re-enter the anti-doping testing pool weeks after retiring, leaving Thomas extremely angry.
“My initial thought when I heard that was this dude just loves attention,” Thomas said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel. “He loves attention. He’s just trying to keep his name out there and he loves attention. He’s dangling his status over our heads, and I hate it. I’m going to tell you right now: I don’t give a f*ck if Jon Jones ever fights again. I don’t care, man.
“He’s the greatest to ever do it, for sure. He’s great. He’s super great. But I don’t care if he ever fights again. Just ride off into the sunset. You know who I care about? I care about Ilia Topuria, Dustin Poirier, the dudes that are out putting their lives on the line for us. I care about those dudes. Jon Jones, I don’t care if he fights again.”
Thomas compared Jones to Conor McGregor, who talked about returning on numerous occasions, but hasn’t competed since July 2021.
“We spent a year and a half talking about him not fighting – a year and a half,” Thomas said. “I’m like, ‘Yo, just ride off, dog. You had a great career. You had two great Hall of Fame careers. Just ride off into the sunset. Stop playing with our emotions, man. I’m tired of it.’ … He’s become like Conor McGregor. It’s the Conor McGregor (seeking attention without fighting) thing.
“Now, if Jon Jones came back, signed on the dotted line that he was fighting Tom Aspinall, yeah, I’d be excited for it. I’d be in the front row to watch it. But the fact that he’s dangling this carrot over our head about fighting, it completely is despicable. Just leave, man. Just leave. Is it really for attention? Does he need attention that bad? Conor does that. Him and Conor both do that.”
