Jon Jones’ retirement from blended martial arts has felt increasingly more inevitable over the course of this yr. And but, it nonetheless blindsided the MMA world when UFC CEO Dana White broke the information on Saturday.
Months of hypothesis concerning Jones’ future got here to an abrupt conclusion in Baku, Azerbaijan, of all locations, the place the UFC was internet hosting a Struggle Night time. White nonchalantly knowledgeable the world that the best blended martial artist of all time had retired, placing an finish to a possible heavyweight title unification bout between him and Tom Aspinall.
“Jon Jones known as us final night time and retired,” White informed a gaggle of reporters when requested immediately about Jones. “Jon Jones is formally retired.”
For starters, what an odd solution to announce the conclusion of the best profession in UFC historical past.
It was the exact opposite of former UFC gentle heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell’s retirement from the UFC in 2010. The UFC introduced Liddell to a information convention within the foyer of the MGM Grand Resort and On line casino in Las Vegas, the place he had the chance to make the announcement himself and reply questions from the media.
The UFC’s Worldwide Struggle Week is that this weekend in Las Vegas, an ideal event to provide Jones the identical alternative and highlight. Why wasn’t he? It may need one thing to do with the feeling round Jones’ retirement, which is undeniably “disappointment.”
The truth that Jones is retiring from the UFC as heavyweight champion and strolling away from the unification bout towards interim champ Aspinall — which had the potential to be one of many greatest fights in UFC historical past — is simply so completely disappointing. Take into consideration how lengthy this sport waited to see Jones transfer as much as heavyweight, to tackle that problem after he beat almost each gentle heavyweight there was to beat all through his 15-fight title reign. The intrigue of a heavyweight run teased followers for years, solely to have it lastly occur and be a little bit of a farce. A vacant title combat towards an overmatched opponent in Ciryl Gane in 2023, and a single protection towards a semi-retired, 42-year-old Stipe Miocic final yr.
Now, this is the half that followers and Jones’ critics in all probability do not need to discuss: He does not owe the world the Aspinall combat. He does not owe the world something. Nobody ought to blame him for a single choice he is made lately concerning the fights he is accepted, as a result of they have been all in his finest curiosity as a champion. Any affordable fighter would have made the identical decisions.
He bought to cherry decide which path he’d take for a heavyweight championship, and he selected the trail of least resistance with Gane. Then he was provided a really profitable layup within the type of Miocic (no disrespect to Miocic, however he was principally a retired fighter at that time), and Jones took it. As he ought to.
The actual misfire, nevertheless, has been the previous seven months. He refused to retire but in addition refused to take the one combat that made any kind of sense towards Aspinall, and nearly defiantly thumbed his nostril on the UFC’s complete fanbase whereas refusing.
The consequence of that refusal is that folks will bear in mind this “utter disappointment” feeling and query his legacy, which already was sophisticated by authorized points, a number of arrests and failed drug assessments. Even because the information of retirement was breaking on Saturday, the Albuquerque Journal reported legal prices filed towards Jones on June 17 for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident in February.
However within the Octagon, his data, his physique of labor and his legacy are untouchable. Nobody ought to say his preventing résumé is ruined for refusing to combat Aspinall. However as a result of this saga went on so lengthy and got here to such a disappointing consequence, there’s an additional sentence to Jones’ MMA legacy. And I do assume it will likely be right here completely: “Jones was the best fighter who ever lived. And he didn’t need to combat Tom Aspinall.”
At this time, I am formally saying my retirement from the UFC. This choice comes after lots of reflection, and I need to take a second to specific my deepest gratitude for the journey I’ve skilled through the years.
From the primary time I stepped into the Octagon, my purpose was to…
— Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) June 22, 2025
Jones did submit a retirement message on social media after White’s feedback, however he deserved higher than that. He deserves his personal Las Vegas information convention this week within the leadup to UFC 317, as a result of a single sentence uttered by White at a information convention in Baku will not be sufficient clarification. On a day when Jones’s profession got here to an finish, we needs to be speaking about all the magical moments he had contained in the Octagon, not the one combat he did not take.