Jon Jones Calls Tom Aspinall a 'One-Trick Pony,' Rips UFC Champ's Performance vs. Gane

Former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones had a lot to say about Tom Aspinall's disappointing performance against Ciryl Gane at UFC 325 last month.

Aspinall was making his first official defense of his heavyweight title after he was elevated from interim to undisputed champion following Jones' retirement. Unfortunately, the fight ended in a no-contest after Aspinall was unable to continue following an eye poke in the first round.

Jones, who defeated Gane by first-round submission to win the heavyweight title in March 2023, said on the NoScripts podcast that he was far more impressed with his former opponent than he was with Aspinall.

"Tom's a great athlete, but I do feel like he's a one-trick pony," Jones said, per ESPN's Brett Okamoto. "I believe that his wrestling and jiu-jitsu is incredibly overrated. He has a beautiful one-two [combination]. I got to learn a lot about his patterns in his last fight. That's really about it. That's the one thing that he's setting up real nice.

"He couldn't touch Ciryl Gane at all, that's the way I felt," he continued. "I felt Gane was just getting warmed up. Gane's hands were down, he was shaking his shoulders, bouncing around, touching him. He was so comfortable."

Jones infamously refused to face Aspinall in a title unification fight for months before suddenly announcing his retirement from MMA in June. However, he has recently expressed interest in participating in the UFC's White House card in 2026 with a potential fight against UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

UFC CEO Dana White said the title fight between Aspinall and Gane would be rescheduled for a later date, but the champ is still recovering from the eye poke. Okamoto noted that Aspinall's father and head coach said he "has not regained full vision in either eye," so it could be a while before he's back in the Octagon.