MMA fans have been urging for a showdown between the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and the interim title holder Tom Aspinall.
Despite the interest by fans and MMA personalities alike, UFC or Dana White has made no official announcement regarding the matchup.
Fans Call for Jon Jones To Be Stripped of the Heavyweight Title
The delay in Jones vs. Aspinall becoming a reality, in addition to “Bones'” recent comments, has not pleased MMA fans too much.
Jones has been sharing cryptic messages about retirement on social media, but has not outright said it yet. In one of his posts on X, the 37-year-old claimed that he was not too sure about officially retiring from the sport as he believes himself to have the ability to make a return anytime he wishes to.
“I don’t know if I wanna call it retired,” said Jones. “I feel like I’ll always have an ability to pop out and show em. I’ve had many breaks throughout my career, my identity outside of fighting is well intact. I’m genuinely enjoying life, I’m growing in different ways.”
All this has led to frustration among some fans who have started a public petition on change.org, appealing to Dana White to strip Jones of the UFC heavyweight title.
The petitioner named Jones’ lack of activity as a heavyweight in addition to his alleged reluctance to fight Aspinall as the reasons behind their petition.
“Jon Jones is now the longest reigning champion in UFC heavyweight history and has only fought 2 times in that period,” reads the petition. “There is a clear interim champion [Aspinall] who has defended his interim championship belt, and Jones has refused to fight him. Therefore we as fans must let Dana know it is time to strip Jones of the title. He clearly has no intentions of fighting anytime soon.”
The petition has received over 15,000 verified signatures from the fans. MMA enthusiasts also took to social media to share their reactions to it.
One individual requested that everybody sign the petition: “Everybody sign it.”
Everyone sign it
— Jacob 🇺🇸 (@JacobCookeMMA)
One person opined that the petition might not prove to be effective: “While I agree that Jon Jones does not deserve the belt, Dana does not and will not give a F**K about this petition.”
Another user shared a similar sentiment, saying: “UFC won’t listen to the fans. [Their] opinion don’t matter.”
ufc won't listen to fans they opinion don't matter
— Stallone (@stallone610)
One individual expressed their wish for MMA fans to demand the matchup between Jones and Aspinall be made official instead of the petition to strip Jones of the belt.
“I want them to force the fight to happen instead, I want Tom to chin that cheating fraud,” wrote the user.
I want them to force the fight to happen instead, I want Tom to chin that cheating fraud
— Todek (@TodekIsKind)
There were some who came to Jones’ defense, with one person saying: “He just fought 6 months ago … bunch of cry baby morons.”
sign what? There is no link to anything to sign
found it, sorry