"One-trick pony" - Jon Jones shares brutal critique of Tom Aspinall after UFC 321 debacle

Jon Jones' decision to retire rather than unify the heavyweight title with the then-interim champion Tom Aspinall left a plethora of questions unanswered. Now, after an eye poke ruined the Briton's first title defense, 'Bones' seems to think that he was never a threat.

During a recent appearance on the No Scripts Podcast, the consensus mixed martial arts GOAT labeled Aspinall's MMA game "overrated". As the New Yorker sees it, the reigning 265-pound champion has few effective weapons in his arsenal:

"I feel as Tom is a great athlete, but I do feel like he is a one-trick pony."

Reflecting on UFC 321, where Aspinall struggled with his level changes against Ciryl Gane, the same opponent whom Jones had submitted in the first round at UFC 285, 'Bones' said:

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"I believe his wrestling and jiu-jitsu are incredibly overrated. He has a beautiful 1-2. I got to learn a lot about his patterns in his last fight. Beautiful 1-2, but that's really about it. He couldn't touch Ciryl Gane at all. That's the way I felt. I felt that Gane was just getting warmed up. Gane's hands were down. He was shaking his shoulders, bouncing around."

Check out Jon Jones' comments below:

For context at UFC 321, Aspinall was having a rough first round, getting out struck by Gane. For the first time in his UFC career, he was left with a bloody nose, and the 32-year-old even struggled to complete his takedowns.

While the momentum appeared to be shifting in the Frenchman's favor, the fight was ultimately ruled a no-contest after Aspinall was rendered unable to continue after getting poked in both his eyes.

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Jon Jones gets honest about why he wants Alex Pereira at UFC White House

Jon Jones had been vying to fight Alex Pereira even while he held he heavyweight gold. Now, as 'Bones' plans to come out of retirement for UFC White House, he wants 'Poatan' as his dancing partner, and for good reason.

As the former two-division champion sees it, fighting the light heavyweight kingpin is a win-win scenario for both athletes. Additionally, Jones believes the bout will be a blockbuster like none other. During the podcast mentioned above, Jones said:

"I'd like to fight Alex Pereira at the White House. I feel like he is incredibly respected. I feel like he is a household name in America in MMA. Everybody knows who he is... He is in conversation for being one of the greatest fighters of all time. It would be a blockbuster event. I think the whole world would come out... Either way that fight would go, no one loses in that fight. It generates so many millions for the sport. There is just no losing when you have such high-level people competing who respect each other."

Edited by Ujwal Jain