Rankings Shakeup: Should Jon Jones be higher than Tom Aspinall on the heavyweight list?
11/20/2024 11:00 AM
Jon Jones wears the crown, but Tom Aspinall has put in the work.
So who is truly MMA's No. 1 heavyweight?
At UFC 309 this past Saturday, Jones returned from a 20-month layoff to defend his share of the UFC heavyweight title, scoring a lopsided knockout of the legendary Stipe Miocic. He's now 2-0 since moving up from light heavyweight, the division he dominated for a decade.
Aspinall wears an interim title, having won it at UFC 295 (when Jones and Miocic were first supposed to fight) and successfully defended it against Curtis Blaydes this past July. That win avenged the lone loss—which came by way of injury after just 15 seconds of action—of Aspinall's career, boosting his record in the UFC heavyweight division to 8-1.
One guy is 8-1 with several wins over top current competition, the other guy is 2-0 with one impressive win over an opponent who was top-3 at the time and and the other against a 42-year-old who literally had one foot out the door as he happily retired after.
The answer to this debate seems obvious, but Jones is still the "undisputed" champion according to the UFC and his undefeated mystique carries a lot of cachet. But he's 37 now, unlikely to ever fight Aspinall, and seems to have no interest in fighting any ranked opponents in the heavyweight division.
For the MMA Fighting voting panel, those facts not only keep Jones out of the top spot, they keep him out of the No. 2 spot. Make no mistake, no matter what the UFC tells you, Jon Jones isn't the No. 1 heavyweight right now and he has never been the No. 1 heavyweight. He's just the guy who has their belt.
Aspinall remains No. 1 with Ngannou taking the No. 2 spot, both fighters tied to Jones matchups that the UFC machine has been unable or unwilling to manufacture. As it stands, this discussion will rage on as long as all three men are active.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was some way for them to settle this dispute?
Check out the latest edition of the MMA Fighting heavyweight rankings and let us know where you rank Jones in the poll below.
