Geoffrey Woo podcast<\/a>. \u201cActually initially the doctor\u2019s like \u2018he seems fine\u2019 and Tom\u2019s like \u2018no, I can\u2019t fight, I can\u2019t see.\u2019 The guy wasn\u2019t trying to see. The guy didn\u2019t want to see.<\/p>\n\u201cAnother thing was the eye that he was covering appeared to be the eye that didn\u2019t get penetrated. One eye, the finger goes all the way underneath the eyelid. The other eye was on top of the eyelid and he ends up grabbing the eye where the finger was on top of the eyelid. I don\u2019t even think Tom really knew which eye was supposed to be more compromised. He just knew that he had been fouled, and it was his way out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones still complimented Aspinall as a fighter but he never really found the attraction in that particular matchup, especially when he compared their resumes. After watching Aspinall\u2019s latest fight end in a no-contest cemented why Jones doesn\u2019t really have much interest in the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think Tom is an amazing athlete,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think he\u2019s a great fighter. Recon is really important. Having information on what you\u2019re going up against is really important. I feel like time is on my side to figure out who this opponent is. If we still fight, it would be awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel like I need him, especially after his last performance. I think time will show the world who I am, what I\u2019ve done and just because someone\u2019s newer or maybe more exciting doesn\u2019t mean that they replace what is already here.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as he doesn\u2019t seem to believe Aspinall goes down as an all-time great, Jones has a much different opinion when it comes to Alex Pereira.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoatan\u201d is already a two-division UFC champion after conquering both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions and he brings a level of danger and excitement to a fight that really intrigues Jones as an opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has that \u2018it\u2019 factor,\u201d Jones said about Pereira. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the reason I want to compete against Pereira. I feel as if the brand that he represents, the energy that he has behind him will be remembered more than just five years from now.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, Aspinall just had a close fight and people are already writing him off. His journey hasn\u2019t even started yet and he\u2019s already almost moved on. I feel like Pereira, fighting a guy like that would just bring so much more to the table for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
While most believe Jones would be heavily favored to beat Pereira based largely around the stylistic clash of grappler going against striker, the former UFC heavyweight champion promises he\u2019d still have to be very strategic in that fight.<\/p>\n
From the sound of things, Jones has already been studying and breaking down what he would do in a possible showdown against Pereira.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Pereira, I\u2019d just have to be smart. I\u2019d have to be really smart,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI\u2019d have to use what\u2019s in front of me. The biggest difference between Pereira and Aspinall is the level of footage that I have. Pereira posts everything. Every sparring session. I have a whole kickboxing career to study from. I have a pretty decent resume in MMA to watch now to take things from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like Pereira is really stuck in a certain way of fighting where he has tendencies in his combinations, tendencies in his counters and his defense. It would be my job to find the holes inside of those tendencies, which I feel like I could.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that Pereira possesses incredible stopping power with his strikes and he\u2019s scored knockouts in 8 out of his 10 victories in the UFC \u2014 six of those coming in title fights.<\/p>\n
But Jones knows his wrestling and grappling are the perfect counter and he expects his power on the ground matches or possibly exceeds what Pereira can do on the feet. Jones believes the same actually goes for Aspinall if that fight ever happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who wrestles me they all say the same thing \u2014 \u2018he\u2019s just so much more powerful than I would have imagined him being,\u2019\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo I think where he punches really hard and kicks really hard, I think my grappling power and wisdom would be a lot for him to handle. But I also feel like that would be the same scenario for Tom Aspinall. I don\u2019t think the U.K. wrestling system is as good as people think it is. I don\u2019t think their jiu-jitsu programs are as good as people say it is. Where Tom is a lot physically bigger, it would probably take me a little bit more effort, I think it would be the same story if I got Tom to the ground as if I got Pereira to the ground. To me, it\u2019s the same fight. The same fight. They\u2019re both strong on their feet, hit very hard on their feet, and I think they both have holes in their grappling department.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel as if my clearest path to victory in both of those fights would be to get them to the ground at some point. To strike with them, I know that I can. I\u2019ve stood with every fighter in the world. I\u2019ve held my space if not won against every fighter in the world in kickboxing. So my goal would be to kickbox until I find my moment, get the fight on the ground, go for a submission or go for a TKO.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clearest path to victory might be the same but Jones promises there\u2019s a huge difference when it comes to the magnitude of each potential fight and that\u2019s what keeps drawing him back to Pereira.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you simplify it like that, it\u2019s more a matter of legacy,\u201d Jones explained. \u201cWhat would make more sense?<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you fight the guy [in Tom Aspinall] who is impressive right now, who I don\u2019t think anybody is really going to care about in a few years from now or do you fight the guy [in Alex Pereira] who\u2019s going to be remembered around the world for a very long time? In Brazil, Pereira\u2019s an absolute idol right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Jones isn\u2019t flat out passing on ever fighting Tom Aspinall, but with his only real reason to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-297712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}