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Alex Volkanovski urges Jon Jones to retire
Connor Scanlon • June 16th, 2025 4:07 pm
Australian featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski joined former UFC star Mike Perry’s podcast, and discussed the ongoing debate between Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and Tom Aspinall, urging Jones to retire.
Jones became the heavyweight champion on March 4, 2023, however, after his title fight he required surgery on his pectoral muscle, meaning he had to take months away from the sport.
In that time, the UFC set up an interim heavyweight title fight between Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich at the end of 2023, which saw the Englishman win by KO/TKO in just 69 seconds, claiming the interim title.
While Jones was still injured, Aspinall defended his interim heavyweight title against Curtis Blaydes on July 27, 2024, where Aspinall won by KO/TKO again inside the first minute of the fight.
Most people expected the UFC to book Jones vs Aspinall next, as the Englishman is the interim title holder. However, Dana White decided to book Jones against 42-year-old Stipe Miocic, which Jones won.
Since then, Jones has been refusing to fight the interim champ Aspinall, making the entire UFC community extremely frustrated with Jones’ lack of activity.
Volkanovski chimed in on the topic, believing that if you are the champion, then it should be compulsory to defend your belt.
“I’ve always been, if you’re the champ, you defend your belt,” Volkanovski told the Overdogs Podcast.
“It’s a responsibility.
“You can’t just (say), ‘oh, I’m gonna sit out.’
“I think you need to be reasonably active, you need to fight whoever’s there.
“If you’ve got an interim champ, it’s a no-brainer.”
The Aussie also explained how those that are defending Jones’ behaviour need to stop, because ‘Bones’ is holding up the entire heavyweight division.
“I don’t wanna throw heaps of shade (at Jon Jones),” admitted Volkanovski.
“Look, I know he’s proved himself, everyone’s like ‘look what he’s done, it’s fine.’
“No, not really, don’t hold up the division.”
Despite Jones being considered the GOAT of the sport, Volkanovski believes he should just retire if he doesn’t want to fight Aspinall.
“I know your resume’s incredible, what you’ve done is incredible, you’re considered the greatest of all time,” said Volkanovski.
“So, if you don’t want to fight, just retire.
“Or, if you want big fights, you’re gonna have to vacate the title.”
The featherweight champ ended by doubling down on the fact that Jones defending his belt is a responsibility that he signed up for.
“Again, it’s a responsibility, that’s how I always looked at being the champ,” Volkanovski said.
“It’s a responsibility.
“I don’t think you have a choice when you have an interim champ just standing there waiting.”
With Aspinall being the UFC’s longest ever reigning interim champ at 583 days and counting, will we ever see Jones face his hardest challenge yet?
