UFC Champ Jon Jones Says ‘I Don’t Know If I Wanna Call It Retired…’

The status of UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones remains unclear, but if we are to believe one of Jones’s recent social media posts, the champ seems to be in what can best be described as a state of semi-retirement.

Jones has been active on social media over the past few days, engaging fans and detractors alike. On Wednesday, Jones was asked by Anthony Scalise, an X account with over 131,000 followers, “How does it feel to be retired ?”

Jones replied to that question, “I don’t know if I wanna call it retired, I feel like I’ll always have an ability to pop out and show em. I’ve had many breaks throughout my career, my identity outside of fighting is well intact. I’m genuinely enjoying life, I’m growing in different ways.”

That post has been viewed over 1.7 million times. One can bet that at least one of those views came from UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who is growing increasingly frustrated by the fact that he cannot get the UFC to book him against Jones in a title unification bout.

“I’m well bored of it. I’ve had enough,” Aspinall recently said about the situation. “Either we need to fight, or I need to move on and do something else. And like I said, I’m gonna find out. Literally, today is the day that I’ve been waiting three, four months for, and I’m gonna find out today what’s going on.”

Aspinall won the interim UFC heavyweight crown in November 2023 with a knockout victory over Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. Aspinall took that fight on short notice when the original main event for that card, Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic for Jones’s heavyweight title was scrapped following an injury to Jones.

Despite Aspinall winning the interim crown, UFC CEO Dana White remained steadfast in saying that Jones vs. Miocic was the fight to make.

That fight did not take place until November 2024. Jones held on to his belt that night, beating Miocic by TKO in the third round. By that time, Aspinall had already defended his interim crown, scoring a first-round knockout win over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July 2024.

Aspinall has been waiting for the title unification bout with Jones since Jones’s win over Miocic in November. In late April, Miocic became the longest-serving UFC interim champion, topping the 535-day reign of Renan Barao, who defended his interim title twice before being named undisputed champion.

ForbesTom Aspinall Favored Over Jon Jones To End 2025 As UFC HW ChampionBy Trent Reinsmith

In late April, UFC CEO Dana White addressed rumors about the Jones vs. Aspinall fight.

“Everything you hear is (expletive) until we (the UFC) say it,” White said of all the talk about Jones vs. Aspinall. “I’ve said it many times, that’s the fight we want to make this year.”

White then added that he remains “super confident” that Jones and Aspinall will meet in 2025 before adding, “I’ve said since day one, this will be the biggest heavyweight in the history of the company and in the history of the sport. It’s going to be a big one.”

We will have updates to the Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall / UFC heavyweight title situation as news becomes available.