It’s safe to say Jon Jones wasn’t impressed by Tom Aspinall’s performance at UFC 321.
While the reigning UFC heavyweight champion ultimately fought for less than one round after his fight against Ciryl Gane was stopped due to an eye poke, Jones saw enough to critique what he saw out of Aspinall. Prior to the stoppage, Gane was likely winning the opening round with elusive footwork and a lightning quick jab that busted open Aspinall’s nose.
Of course that’s a far cry from a knockout or actually winning the fight but Jones just didn’t see much from Aspinall that really got his attention.
“Tom’s a great athlete but I do feel like he’s a one-trick pony,” Jones told the No Scripts podcast. “I believe that his wrestling and jiu-jitsu is incredibly overrated. He has a beautiful one-two [combination]. I got to learn a lot about his patterns in his last fight. That’s really about it.
“That’s the one thing that he’s setting up real nice. He couldn’t touch Ciryl Gane at all. That’s the way I felt.”
Jones has his own experience after he fought Gane for the vacant UFC heavyweight title back in 2023 when Francis Ngannou relinquished the belt to leave the promotion in free agency.
On that night, Jones made quick work of Gane after securing a takedown and snatching a nasty guillotine choke that finished the fight at just over two minutes into the opening round.
Meanwhile, Gane was doing well enough in just over four minutes’ worth of action to convince Jones that he was settling into a rhythm that could have given Aspinall some serious problems.
“I felt like Gane was just getting warmed up,” Jones said. “Gane’s hands were down, he’s shaking his shoulders, bouncing around. He was touching him. He was so comfortable.”
Jones showed little interest in fighting Aspinall when he was UFC heavyweight champion before he surrendered the belt after making the decision to retire from the sport.
That lasted all of two weeks with Jones then plotting a comeback after the UFC announced plans to hold a card at the White House in 2026. Now Jones is seeking a fight against UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
As for Aspinall, he’s still recovering from the gruesome eye poke that ended his night at UFC 321 but it’s expected that he’ll run it back with Gane next year when he’s healthy enough to compete again.
