Following UFC Fight Night in Baku, Dana White announced Jon Jones would retire.
🚨 TOM ASPINALL IS THE OFFICIAL HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP@DanaWhite has announced that Jon Jones has RETIRED, thus elevating @AspinallMMA to become the heavyweight champ 🏆 pic.twitter.com/oJ8a9nl8KT
— UFC (@ufc) June 21, 2025
The reaction that followed from former fighters and fans may not have been what the now-former heavyweight champ hoped for.
“He quit,” former UFC champ and commentator Daniel Cormier said.
Daniel Cormier labels Jon Jones as a quitter after retiring from MMA before fighting Tom Aspinall. pic.twitter.com/X5y1Qdsfpr
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 22, 2025
Jones can be a polarizing guy, but nobody can dispute his record.
Jon Jones’ career was one for the ages:
🏆 16 wins in UFC title fights
🏆 Youngest UFC champion of all time (23)
🏆 20 fight unbeaten streak
🏆 Two-division UFC champion
🏆 22 career wins in UFC, T-5th most all-time
🏆 Never been knocked down in his MMA career pic.twitter.com/Go80bOfncT— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 21, 2025
However, fans are furious that he wasted people’s time.
Jon Jones refusing to fight Tom Aspinall is the biggest case of blatant ducking in combat sports history
The “baddest man on the planet” outright refusing to fight his interim challenger
Yet another massive stain on Jon’s legacy, good riddance, the division finally moves on 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3qQnFrs3gQ
— ACD MMA (@acdmma_) June 21, 2025
Fedor x Randy
Fedor x Brock
Jones x Ngannou
Jones x Aspinall
Add it to the list.
As I’ve said time and again, UFC got Jon his money. He said he was in, then out. Once he said he was out they should have moved on. And while he said he was out, we were still told it’s…
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 22, 2025
What has a lot of fans fired up is that Jones really did mess up Aspinall’s career.
Tom Aspinall turns 36 next month…
Jon Jones really stole the last years of his prime. Time he can never get back.
What a bastard. pic.twitter.com/cHs69VtL6h
— Martys Hairline 2.0 (@MmaUnderdogz) June 21, 2025
However, these words should haunt Jones.
“I will retire Jon Jones without even fighting him” – Tom Aspinall
He actually did. The steroid junkie was so terrified lmao pic.twitter.com/nWc6QI181a
— 𝕽𝖆𝖎𝖓𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖗❂ (@Sa_Gwang) June 21, 2025
