Jon Jones sends deleted message to Tom Aspinall: ‘Everyone’s the next big thing until I beat them’

Jon Jones appears to have taken note of a recent call out from the surging, Tom Aspinall following his win at UFC London – warning the British heavyweight that he as a knack of defeated the consensus “next big thing”.

Jones, the current undisputed heavyweight champion and former two-time light heavyweight gold holder, is slated to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 295 in November at Madison Square Garden, taking on the returning former two-time champion, Stipe Miocic.

Earlier this year, the Endicott-born look-see-do fighter returned triumphantly from a three-year-plus layoff, taking on former interim champion, Ciryl Gane in a vacant title offing.

Striking divisional gold in his heavyweight bow, Jon Jones submitted the Frenchman with a dominant opening round guillotine choke submission win.

And following his knockout win over Marcin Tybura over the weekend in his return to the Octagon following a debilitating knee injury, Aspinall called for a future title pairing with Jones. 

Jon Jones sends deleted warning to Tom Aspinall following UFC London

However, this morning, in a now-deleted post, Jones claimed that Aspinall may be the “next big thing”, however, he has an ability to comfortably dispatch fighters with that billing.

“Everyone’s the next big thing until I beat them,” Jon Jones tweeted. “And then it’s like well, who was that guy anyway? Just a few months ago (Ciryl) Gane was the absolute future of MMA. Best foot work, fastest heavyweight we have ever seen. The most athletic. Now everyone’s like who the hell is that guy?”

Linked with a potential retirement of his own in a return to his home state for his heavyweight title defense against Miocic before the end of this year, Jones is firmly on the radar of Aspinall – with the Atherton native welcoming a title-eliminator with either Gane, or former-foe, Sergei Spivak before challenging Jones for the undisputed heavyweight championship.