Michael Bisping has thrown some shade in the direction of Jon Jones ahead of UFC 309.
Jones takes on Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden on November 17 in what will be his first UFC heavyweight title defence.
42-year-old Miocic hasn’t fought in an octagon since his 2021 defeat to Francis Ngannou, while Jones last competed in March last year, submitting Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 after a three-year hiatus.
Bisping was reacting to bombshell news from Jones on Thursday as he told Kevin Iole he would ‘more than likely not’ fight Aspinall, should he defeat Miocic, because the former ‘hasn’t proved anything’.
Jones also said that current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira would be the only name in the current UFC roster he would consider fighting.
This sparked a major reaction in the MMA community and talkSPORT’s Adam Catterall even commented on the situation by saying ‘Jon is playing for an offer he can’t refuse’.
“Jon Jones is an enigma, that’s why people talk about him being the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel on Friday.
“He’s certainly one of them, okay, but the reality is Jon Jones is now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and when he fights Stipe Miocic and if he is victorious then he has to face Tom Aspinall next.
“This is just the way the world works. If he doesn’t, this is – in the words of Khabib Nurmagomedov – number one b*******.”
Bisping went so far as to suggest UFC president Dana White should consider stripping the belt from Jones if he won’t fight Aspinall.
He added: “I’m telling you right now it is number one b******* and if he refuses to fight Tom Aspinall next then we’re gonna start having a serious conversation as to whether or not this man should be stripped.
“Jon is the undisputed champion of the world, Tom is the interim champion, this is how it works – they face one another.”
Aspinall fought for the interim title against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November 2023, as Jones was out with an injury.
The Manchester man knocked out Russia’s Pavlovich in the first round, before defending his interim status against Curtis Blaydes at UFC Manchester eight months later.
“I’m not saying this as a Jon Jones hater,” Bisping added. “But if this was boxing Jon Jones would be stripped, that’s a fact, case in point and this happens all the time in boxing.
“And granted they’re very different sports, but in boxing let’s look at this recently. Oleksandr Usyk fought Tyson Fury for the undisputed belts, Usyk won, he was a champion of four divisions undisputed, unbelievable.
“But guess what? He’s going to rematch Tyson Fury again next month – the mandatory IBF Challenger was Filip Hrgovic – but because he’s going to rematch Tyson Fury, Usyk was stripped of the IBF title, so he’s no longer the undisputed champion.
“[Usyk’s] still got three belts, very impressive and I’m looking forward to that but it’s not for the four undisputed belts. This should be the same thing if Jon Jones refuses to fight Tom Aspinall.”
Bisping goes on to reference how the UFC handled his situation when he won the middleweight title against Dan Henderson in October 2016.
He was required to get surgery, therefore, White announced that Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero would fight for the middleweight interim title in 2017.
Whittaker won his bout with Romero after five rounds via unanimous-decision and Bisping was the first in the octagon to challenge the Australian straight after the fight.
Although the fight between Bisping and Whittaker never came into fruition due to various reasons, the former was expected at the time to fight the interim champion to unify the division.
Bisping went on to drop his middleweight belt to UFC icon Georges St-Pierre on his return to action, before getting knocked out by Kevin Gastelum in what was his final MMA bout.
The 45-year-old went on to say he would love to see Jones fight Pereira, but only if he can get through Aspinall.
He added that even if Miocic wins and retires, as he is expected to do regardless of the result, Jones still has to fight Aspinall for what would be the vacant title in that scenario.