UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall has broken his silence on the possible return of Jon Jones.
Aspinall was chasing the Jones fight for months before ‘Bones’ announced his retirement. However, the MMA icon recently changed his mind and is rumoured to be returning to the octagon.
Tom Aspinall Breaks Silence On Jon Jones Return
As he prepares for his UFC Heavyweight Title fight in October against Ciryl Gane, Tom Aspinall has been in the media this week being asked about Jon Jones.
Aspinall, who UFC betting sites are heavily favouring to defeat Gane at UFC 321, was catching up with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani this week on his popular Ariel Helwani Show.
The UFC heavyweight Champion and Helwani discussed a whole host of topics, one of which was the potential return of Jon Jones for a possible UFC White House event next year.
Jones vs Aspinall was supposedly in the works for months, with ‘Bones’ reportedly turning down figures of $10m+ to fight the Englishman.
After refusing to fight Aspinall, Jones relinquished the UFC Heavyweight Title and ultimately retired from MMA for good. However, his retirement lasted less than two weeks, with Jones revealing his intentions of fighting on a UFC White House show.
As soon as US President Donald Trump mentioned the White House card, Jones was straight on to X (formerly Twitter) revealing his intentions of getting back into the octagon for the card.
It’s fair to say that Tom Aspinall was less than impressed when asked about a fight with the former two-division UFC champion, insisting that he is not interested in facing ‘Bones’ because of the time and energy he previously wasted on trying to make the fight.
Fighting at the White House? 👀
— Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) July 4, 2025
Just re-entered the testing pool, that lasted for about two weeks. Figured we’d keep everyone’s options open.
— Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) July 4, 2025
Aspinall: ‘It’s Just So Boring, I’m Not Interested’
When asked about a possible Jon Jones return to the octagon, Tom Aspinall revealed to Ariel Helwani that he has absolutely no interest in what ‘Bones’ does whatsoever.
“It’s just boring. It’s just so boring,” Aspinall said on a potential clash with Jones at the White House.
“It has spent 0 seconds in my mind. I’m not interested, mate. Not interested. The world shouldn’t be interested either, because what’s the point? That’s false hope.
“[The White House] doesn’t not interest me… It’d be a cool experience, but I feel like the Americans should get the shot at the White House,” Aspinall concluded.
Tom Aspinall said he’s not interested in fighting Jon Jones at the White House 😭
“Not interested mate. The world shouldn’t be either. What’s the point? Just false hope.”
(via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/7AiQD9f7BY
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) August 11, 2025
Will Jon Jones Return To Fight Tom Aspinall?
It remains to be seen as to whether Jon Jones actually does make a sensational octagon return in 2026.
Within weeks of officially retiring, ‘Bones’ revealed that he was open to a return, particularly if the UFC were to stage a huge show at the White House.
Jones revealed that fighting at the White House in front of President Donald Trump is something that would put the fire back in his belly after previously admitting the Tom Aspinall fight did nothing for his legacy.
As the greatest MMA fighter of all time, seeing Jones return to the UFC would come as no shock. Plenty of fighters have gone back on their word after retiring to return to the octagon.
This may be the case for Jon Jones, who’s return most definitely wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone.
When Is Tom Aspinall’s Next Fight?
In the meantime, Tom Aspinall’s next fight is set for the UFC 321 main event on Saturday, October 25 in Abu Dhabi.
The English MMA phenom will take on Frenchman Ciryl Gane at the Etihad Arena in the UFC 321 main event at the end of October.
Gane has challenge for the UFC Heavyweight Title before, losing to Jon Jones at UFC 285. Jones became the heavyweight king after submitting Gane in Round 1, who is now set for his second challenge at UFC gold.
Aspinall is a firm favourite to beat the #1 ranked heavyweight contender in their UFC 321 main event clash, but Gane is no mug.
Should Aspinall defeat Gane, then who knows, he could well face Jones once and for all if the greatest MMA fighter of all time decides to return to the octagon and makes a legitimate retirement U-turn.
