Jon Jones eager to return after Tom Aspinall’s UFC heavyweight title vacation ‘put another fire in him’

Jon Jones avoided a fight against Tom Aspinall when the Brit was the interim champion.

Earlier this week, the UFC heavyweight division took another major twist when Tom Aspinall announced he’d vacated the title due to his ongoing injuries.

The initial plan was for Aspinall and Ciryl Gane to rematch at UFC 334 but after re-injuring himself in training, the 33-year-old decided he didn’t want to hold up the division with his return unknown.

And Aspinall dropping the title garnered a reaction from his longtime nemesis, Jon Jones, who questioned the legitimacy of the Brit’s injury.

When ‘Bones’ reigned over the heavyweight division, Aspinall was the interim champion of the division, which should’ve led to a fight between the two.

Despite that, Jones avoided a fight against the 33-year-old at every opportunity and even turned down an offer of $30 million from the UFC to make the fight.

That then led to Jones finally retiring from the sport which resulted in Aspinall being upgraded to the undisputed heavyweight champion.

Although he retired this past April, according to his teammate Gable Steveson, Aspinall’s recent title vacation has ‘put another fire into him’ and he is now once again eager to return.

“I think Ciryl Gane deserves (the undisputed title) he’s a fantastic fighter and he’s a guy that goes out there and he’s beating everybody besides the infinity stones of fighting, (Francis) Ngannou and Jon,” Steveson told RMC Sport Combat when asked about the state of the heavyweight division.

“I think Jon would like to come back also, maybe seeing this belt open up put another fire into him. Jon’s my training partner everyday in Albuquerque so I’ve seen what he can still do and I know he can do it at the highest level, and maybe his time will come again and I think it will,” Steveson added.

Despite Steveson’s comments that Jones is eyeing up a return to the sport, it is unclear whether UFC boss Dana White would entertain that at this point.

With Aspinall dropping the title, that means Ciryl Gane will be upgraded to the undisputed champion as he currently holds the interim belt.

And he has already received multiple callouts for his first title defense, as Josh Hokit has demanded a title shot, as has his recent rival, Alex Pereira.

According to UFC legend Chris Weidman, ‘Poatan’ is the frontrunner to fight Gane for the title, in a rematch he has been campaigning for over the past few months.