The UFC heavyweight division is at a bit of a standstill. The weight class essentially has two champions. Jon Jones holds the disputed championship while Tom Aspinall is the interim titleholder.
The fight promotion is actively working to lock down a title unification bout but hasn’t been able to finalize a deal with Jones. Former title challenger turned UFC analyst Chael Sonnen thinks Jones should be stripped of the title.
“What are bets for? Why do we have them? To recognize champions. Good job if you said that. Equal answer, to be defended,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.
“We do not hand out belts in retirement, just for example. When you’re inducted into the Hall of Fame, we do not hand out belts. Just for example. If you do a great jab, you become a No. 1 contender, we don’t hand out belts. You sell out arenas, you move the needle on pay-per-views, we don’t hand out belts. They are to be defended.”
Jones captured the heavyweight championship by making quick work for Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in Mach 2023. He was scheduled to face former two-time heavyweight champion Stipe Mioicic at UFC 295 eight month later but was forced out if the fight due to injury.
The fight promotion opted to crown an interim champion in Jones’ absence and Aspinall took out Sergei Pavlovich in 69 seconds to capture the interim belt. Jones and Miocic eventually did fight at UFC 309 in November and Jones retained the title with a third-round TKO finish. Five months earlier, Aspinall defended the interim championship at UFC 304.
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“Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall is a flame that is burning. It is not a flame that is growing,” Sonnen said. “The interest in this fight is getting less and less.”
“It is impossible to have an interim champion in the presence of an undisputed champion. The moment the bell rang for Jon Jones vs. Stipe, Tom Aspinall ceases to be champion, but that’s not what happened,” Sonnen said.
“I’m not suggesting we take them both (belts) away, so we’ve got to take one away. Which one do you take,” Sonnen asked. “The belt is not there just to recognized greatness. It is there to be defended. Which one is not going to be defended?”
“The company should have already stripped somebody just because it’s impossible top have interim and undisputed together It’s impossible,” continued Sonnen.
