NEW YORK – To the fans who keep clamoring for UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones to fight Tom Aspinall because Aspinall is the interim champ, he hears you. He’s just not going to listen.
Of course, Jones first has to retain his belt this Saturday when he meets former champ Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event at Madison Square Garden. The odds suggest that shouldn’t be a problem as Jones is a roughly 6-1 favorite to beat 42-year-old Miocic coming off a three-and-a-half-year layoff, and that’s why everyone is looking ahead.
Under normal circumstances, Jones already would be unifying the title with Aspinall this weekend, but legacy is what matters most to Jones at this stage of his career, hence why he stuck with a title defense against Miocic, who’s widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight of all time, that was supposed to happen a year ago. On top of that, Jones has made it clear that if he doesn’t retire after UFC 309, he wants what he views as another legacy fight against fellow UFC two-division champ Alex Pereira.
