Jon Jones was deep in negotiations to fight Tom Aspinall before announcing his retirement earlier this year – and leaked footage has shown how he feels about the Brit.

A video has surfaced showing Jon Jones suggesting Tom Aspinall would have been an easy opponent for him.

Jones secured the undisputed heavyweight title in March 2023 against Ciryl Gane after a first-round submission win over the Frenchman. He was set to defend his title just months later against Stipe Miocic, but had to withdraw due to a severe shoulder injury.

‘Bones’ was out of action for a year – during which time the UFC matched Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich for the interim gold strap. The Brit went on to knock the Russian out brutally in the first round before successfully defending the title against Curtis Blaydes in July 2024. As for Jones, the former dual-weight champion returned to the cage last November, knocking out Miocic in the third round.

Before the bout, he hinted at retiring, but eventually pledged to stay on for at least one more fight. Both Jones and Aspinall were deep in talks over a potential fight, but the former failed to publicly commit to fighting the British star, reports All Out Fighting. ‘Bones’ announced his shock retirement back in June, and Aspinall was subsequently promoted to undisputed champion.

Many accused Jones of avoiding the fight altogether, but previously unseen footage appears to show Jones completely dismissing his rival. The clip from six months ago shows the MMA legend discussing Aspinall’s submission loss to Stuart Austin in 2015 where the Brit seemed to “give up.”

Geoffrey Woo uploaded a video to X – previously known as Twitter – in which he revealed that Jones had already ‘sized up’ Aspinall and identified weaknesses in his mental game. “I’ll be interested to see if he wins his next fight (Ciryl Gane) because… there’s a video that has not gone viral, but one of his losses, he was very much an adult. I believe already a black belt. And he was taken down and the guy twisted his ankle and he had no defence, and he tapped so quickly,” Jones commented.

“There was no… I had a fight where I got armbar’d and I was literally willing to let somebody break my arm before giving up. With Tom… the moment he felt any pressure on his ankle, he tapped immediately, which lets me know a lot about him.”

Despite announcing his retirement earlier this year, the MMA veteran made a surprising U-turn just weeks later, and is eager to participate in the White House card next June. Jones is back in the drug-testing pool, but a potential opponent has yet to emerge.

The front-runner appears to be Alex Pereira. ‘Poatan’ challenged Jones following his impressive victory over Magomed Ankalaev earlier this month, and ‘Bones’ accepted the challenge. He posted on social media: “Alex, I’d be down to bring the highest skill level to the White House. I appreciate the respect you showed, let’s dance.”

Jones, who has previously fought Gane and exchanged verbal blows with Aspinall for months, was keenly watching the events of UFC 321. However, the main event last weekend was overshadowed by controversy when the bout was prematurely ended in the first round after Aspinall was poked in both eyes by his opponent.

Despite being given five minutes to recover, the Brit was unable to continue, leading referee Jason Herzog to declare the fight a no contest. Jones didn’t waste any time in taking a dig at his long-standing rival. The 38-year-old subtly changed his Twitter profile picture to an image of a duck wearing an eye patch, a clear reference to Aspinall’s eye injury, before challenging Pereira to a tantalising showdown.