More than 130,000 UFC fans have demanded that Dana White strip Jon Jones of his heavyweight championship. And the number is growing by the minute.
It’s been 18 months since Tom Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 to capture the interim UFC heavyweight title while ‘Bones’ was on the sidelines nursing a torn pectoral muscle. And yet, we are seemingly no closer to seeing the two fighters unify their respective titles. As a result, a Change.org petition urging the promotion to strip Jones of his belt has now crossed six figures and shows no signs of slowing down.
Aware of the petition, Jones mocked its existence early on in an Instagram post, writing, “The equivalent to pico grams.”
MMA analyst urges Jon Jones to either defend or vacate
While fight fans have clearly made their opinions known, MMA analysts like Michael Bisping recently chimed in, imploring ‘Bones’ to do the right thing, whether that means defending the belt or vacating it.
“If you’re the heavyweight champion of the world, then you have an obligation to the sport, the fans, to the other fighters in the divsion,” Bisping told MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn on The Bohnfire. “Live your life, and if you are somewhat retired, just be honest and come out and say it.
Chael Sonnen recently suggested that people are “caring less and less” about Jones vs. Aspinall with each passing day that it goes unannounced. However, his Good Guy/Bad Guy co-host Daniel Cormier remains optimistic that the fight will eventually come to fruition.
Since ditching the light heavyweight division five years ago, Jon Jones has only competed twice inside the Octagon. He defeated Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title in March 2023, then successfully defended the belt against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.
In the meantime, Aspinall logged a rare interim title defense in July 2024, scoring a 60-second knockout of Curtis Blaydes in Manchester.
