Din Thomas thinks Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is being dragged out for a reason.
UFC heavyweight champion Jones’ most recent comments regarding the long-awaited title-unification bout with interim Aspinall have been worrisome after saying that he “could really care less about fighting.”
Dana White’s patience has been running thin, and the UFC CEO said he’s willing to move on if the fight doesn’t get done in a couple of weeks. Analyst and coach Thomas is confident Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) will end up fighting Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC).
“It’s got to be Jon Jones,” Thomas told MMA Junkie. “I think all this nonsense is just marketing. I think it’s marketing to keep it out there, to make it even bigger. Every show I’ve done, we talked more about Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. We’ve talked about a fight that wasn’t even signed more than fights that happened, and I think that was done purposely.
“I think Jon Jones is going to fight. He has to. There’s no way he goes this route, does all this, and then not fight. I think it’s all marketing to keep it out there, to make it even bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and this is going to end up getting signed, and then it’s going to be the big fight the UFC needs to close out the year.”
Jones has been accused of ducking Aspinall, been labeled as scared, and had plenty of fighters and pundits criticize his actions for dragging out the fight. Thomas still think Jones has played the entire situation smartly.
“It’s the right strategy, too, because think about this: If the plan was to have them fight in November or December, and we announced it in February, no one would talk about it until then. We get tired of talking about it, but the idea of Jon Jones hinting around, Tom Aspinall calling him a duck, it just really kept us dangling. It just kept that carrot dangling in front of us, and we’d reach for it, and then we go, ‘Oh.’ Then they bring it back out and we reach for it and we go, ‘Oh.’ But I think now’s about the time where they can make it a really strong announcement and we go, ‘Yes!’ It’s like a movie.”
To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on “The Bohnfire” podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.