1 year ago
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Brett OkamotoJun 21, 2025, 07:30 PM ET
- Brett Okamoto has reported connected mixed martial arts and boxing astatine ESPN since 2010. He has covered each of the biggest events successful combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names specified arsenic Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was besides a shaper connected the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked backmost astatine the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives successful Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer successful his spare time.
Jon Jones, wide considered the top mixed martial creator of each time, has retired from competition, UFC CEO Dana White announced connected Saturday.
According to White, Jones, 37, informed the promotion of his determination to discontinue connected Friday. The UFC had been moving towards booking a heavyweight rubric unification bout betwixt Jones and interim champion Tom Aspinall, but with Jones's abrupt retirement, Aspinall is present elevated to undisputed champion.
"Jon Jones called america past nighttime and retired," White said during a property league successful Azerbaijan. 'Jon Jones is officially retired. Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC."
Jones did not instantly remark connected White's announcement. White said the UFC volition enactment with Aspinall adjacent week connected booking his archetypal rubric defense.
Jones (28-1) moved up from the airy heavyweight part to seizure the vacant heavyweight title implicit Ciryl Gane successful 2023. He defended the loop erstwhile during his 27-month rubric reign, successful a third-round TKO triumph implicit Stipe Miocic astatine UFC 309 successful November.
A bout betwixt Jones and Aspinall would person been 1 of the biggest successful UFC heavyweight history, but Jones repeatedly downplayed the imaginable matchup, arguing that a triumph implicit Aspinall would person done thing for his legacy. Jones's disinterest caused galore observers to impeach him of ducking Aspinall. An online petition calling for Jones to beryllium stripped of his rubric really garnered astir 200,000 signatures.
"I evidently consciousness atrocious for Tom that helium mislaid each that clip and money, but we'll marque it up to him. Tom Aspinall is simply a bully guy. He's been unthinkable done this full process that we've gone through," White said. "He's been consenting to bash thing -- combat him anyplace and anytime and bash this, and present he's like, 'I'll combat anybody. You archer maine who, and I'll combat him.' So Aspinall has been great. He's going to beryllium a large heavyweight champion for us, and I'm excited to enactment with him."
Jones, who lives and trains successful Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been considered the top mixed martial creator of each clip for years. At 21, helium became the youngest champion successful UFC history, erstwhile helium defeated Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua for the 205-pound rubric successful 2011. He went connected to a 16-0 grounds successful UFC title fights, the astir of each time. He is 1 of 9 fighters to clasp UFC titles successful aggregate value classes. His 22 vocation wins successful the UFC are tied for fifth-most successful UFC history.
Throughout his career, Jones was heavy impacted by ineligible issues extracurricular of the Octagon. Most notably, helium was arrested and charged with a felony hit-and-run successful 2015, aft helium fled the country of a conveyance mishap that injured a 25-year-old large woman. He was suspended from contention for 1 twelvemonth successful 2016, aft investigating affirmative for performance-enhancing drugs. Jones agelong maintained those affirmative results were owed to contaminated ineligible supplements.
