In March 2023, after 3 years of competition, Jon Jones returned and defeated Ciryl Gane. He was immediately scheduled to protect UFC Heavyweight at the end of that year. However, the injury caused Jones to leave the schedule. Since then, Jones has only added 1 match against Stipe Miocic at the end of 2024.
The fact that Jon Jones played too little as a boxer holding UFC's championship caused a lot of controversy. One of the most criticized Jones is the martial artist who holds the temporary championship Tom Aspinall. He accused Jones cowardly, and constantly dodged a unified battle.
In response to the continuous criticism aimed at himself in the past, Jones said: “All are lies. I have told UFC about the training and competition plan for a long time.
The fact that Jones played too little also made Tom Aspinall not have the desired schedule. As usual, the boxer after winning the temporary belt will be competed in the official belt afterwards. However, in the case of Jones, he turned Aspinall into the first martial artist to protect the belt temporarily.
Since ASPinall joined UFC, he often played with a frequency of 2 matches per year. But since the beginning of 2024 until now, this boxer has only played 1 match. It was a temporary championship against Curtis Blaydes, where Aspinall won knock-out in the first half.