Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight Tom Aspinall. At least that is what the ‘undisputed’ heavyweight champ has claimed publicly throughout the past year. Until he was pushed in the direction of taking up the bout opposite the interim champ after Dana White made the promotion’s plans clear going forward. However, verbose UFC analyst and Jones’ former opponent, Chael Sonnen, thinks Jones’ public reluctance to fight Aspinall is just a ruse.

In fact, Jones is not only ready to fight Aspinall but is just waiting for the UFC to lock in the date, according to ‘Uncle Chael’. “I can’t get too into Jon Jones’s wheelhouse. But I’ll tell you two things- publicly he is saying he does not want Tom Aspinall. Privately, he is waiting for a phone call to tell him the date so he can go fight Tom Aspinall. That is as direct with you as I can be. That fight is a 100% go and they could make it today,” Sonnen told Daniel Cormier on their ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show.

“Anything that you’re hearing that Jon Jones is holding that fight up, Jon Jones is having some fun with the fans because the fans have been a bit of jerks to him. As far as fighting Tom Aspinall, take me at why word when I tell you Jon Jones will be there,” he added.

The fans have indeed been trashing Jones every time he gets online for his decision to fight a 42-year-old past his prime Stipe Miocic and his reluctance to fight Aspinall. As far as the fans know, Jones is currently negotiating with the UFC to secure “f**k you money” for an Aspinall fight.

But ‘Uncle Chael’s claims make it seem that the financial aspect of the fight has already been worked out between the UFC and Jones. All that remains is for the promotion to announce a date. But what about Tom Aspinall? What are his demands for the Jones fight?

Tom Aspinall is only concerned with fighting for the heavyweight championship

Dana White has predicted that Jones-Aspinall will be the biggest fight in the history of the promotion. This means that Tom Aspinall could also play a bit of hardball with the promotion and secure a huge payday for himself. However, the English interim champ doesn’t care about money or even fighting Jones! All he wants to do is become the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

“I don’t really care about money at this point. Obviously, I’ve got a family and want to make as much money as I can. But to me, what’s more important is unifying the belts. In MMA, unlike boxing, there’s usually one champion, one face, and one name for every division,” Aspinall told Piers Morgan in a recent interview.

Of course, the interim champ is likely to become the undisputed champ one way or another, even if the Jones fight falls through. If Jones chooses to retire instead of fight him, the UFC would either promote Aspinall to undisputed status or have him fight another top-ranked heavyweight for the undisputed belt.

But if Chael Sonnen’s claims are true, it may not have to come to that. Instead, the Englishman will have the opportunity to fight perhaps the greatest of all time in the biggest MMA fight of all time. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s claims about Jon Jones?