Alexander Volkanovski Believes Jon Jones Needs To Fight Tom Aspinall, Understands Pereira Fight
Volkanovski is a fan like everyone else.
Champion vs. Interim Champion
Jon Jones has said plenty of times that if he beats Stipe Miocic this Saturday at UFC 309, he will not fight Tom Aspinall, the interim UFC Heavyweight champion. Jon believes that fight does nothing for him, and he’d rather fight Alex Pereira.
Now, UFC Featherweight Alexander Volkanovski has taken to his YouTube Channel to give his thoughts on the situation, to which he believes Jon Jones needs to fight Tom Aspinall.
I’m sure Jon Jones is sick of hearing this, but the Tom Aspinall fight is the fight everyone wants to see. You want to be a heavyweight champion, you want to claim that crown, Tom Aspinall, look, you can create, sorry, that might sound wrong because you did claim it. You fought, you know a vacant belt and you fought Gane for it and you got it. But, it’s going to be hard to convince me you’re a defending champ if you don’t fight Tom Aspinall while he’s the interim champ and the biggest threat. Does Jon Jones even need to do this? No. He’s already got an incredible legacy. But, if you want to claim the heavyweight division, say you’re the, you know, you were a proper double champ, you know what I mean, people are going to fucking twist this for sure, excuse my language, but, yeah. You’ve got to fight Tom Aspinall. If you really want that on your résumé saying that “I’m the best heavyweight while I was there”, you have to fight Tom Aspinall. I think he is definitely the biggest threat. The wrestling, everywhere, he could be dangerous everywhere and he’s a legit heavyweight, right? Explosive, fast, you know, heart, yeah. It’s just that’s the fight I hope to see.
Alex continued on to say he understands why Jon wants to fight Alex Pereira, because that’s where the money is.
I know there’s talk of him doing a Pereira fight, he’s probably in a position where I don’t need to add to my legacy, I want bigger fights, you know, Pereira’s a massive name right now, so maybe that’s what he’s chasing and he’s clever. He knows Tom Aspinall’s the way bigger threat, but, you know, what he gets out of beating him would be, actually I think most of us, the guys that are in the know, that’ll be huge right? That’ll be huge. But, when you’re talking money and things like that, and star power, I mean, a win over Pereira right now would be massive. That’s probably one of the biggest fights you could do right now. So, I could see why he’s pointed at that, but, give rid of the heavyweight belt then. You know, cause you want to claim being the champ, get rid of that heavyweight belt because the interim champs there. You need to fight him and that’s just how it is. But, I’m sure he disagrees with that. Like he’s said many times, he doesn’t need to prove himself, and he doesn’t. But you want us to call you a heavyweight champion, or defending heavyweight champion, I think that’s where it’s at. And that’s not hate to Jon Jones, but I think that’s just where it’s at with that one.
All this talk may be irrelevant if Jon Jones can’t get past Stipe Miocic this Saturday at UFC 309 from Madison Square Garden, which Alex predicted Jones will win.
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