"Make it make sense" - Veteran journalist calls out Jon Jones over criticism of Tom Aspinall 

Earlier this year, Jon Jones chose retirement over a title unification bout against the then-interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall, who was later elevated to undisputed champion.

However, after the Briton's first title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 ended in a no-contest due to an eye poke by the Frenchman, 'Bones' has been highly critical of Aspinall. It is a stance that hasn't sat well with one veteran MMA journalist.

Earlier this week, Ariel Helwani took to X, calling out Jones for comments he made on No Scripts Podcast. The consensus MMA GOAT said that the reigning 265-pound champion immediately shuts down whenever he gets hurt.

Jones also labeled the 32-year-old a one-trick pony, claiming that Aspinall's entire MMA arsenal boiled down to a decent 1-2 combination.

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Helwani did not take kindly to the criticisms and posted:

"Jon talks soooo much s**t about Tom and yet turned down a generational payday to fight him. Make it make sense."

Check out Ariel Helwani's comments on Jon Jones below:

According to former three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen, 'Bones' stood to bag a guaranteed $12 million if he had fought Aspinall. Furthermore, Jones and the UFC brass even had a verbal agreement regarding the bout before he backed out.

Nevertheless, the New Yorker had since made a U-turn on his retirement in hopes of claiming a spot on the UFC White House card in June next year. Dana White, however, doesn't seem to find the former two-division champion reliable anymore.

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Jon Jones apologizes to Dana White for backing out of Tom Aspinall fight

While Jon Jones' perfect swansong involves the UFC White House event, he recognizes that Dana White is upset with him for backing out of the Tom Aspinall fight.

During his appearance on the abovementioned podcast, he apologized to the UFC head honcho, saying:

"Dana has changed my life. He’s changed my life, he’s changed my children’s lives. I am forever grateful to him. We had a verbal agreement that didn’t go over well. Nothing was finalized, but I do admit guilt, not guilt, but I was wrong. The way things went down, I was wrong. And I wish that I could see him face-to-face and just apologize to him so that we can let bygones be bygones and get back to making some major money for the sport, and really entertaining these fans." [7:45 minutes into the interview]

Edited by Ujwal Jain