Georges St-Pierre is as perplexed as everyone else when it comes to gauging Tom Aspinall’s chances against Jon Jones.
The UFC heavyweight champion spent much of the past two years chasing a unification bout against Jones, with Jones winning a vacant title at UFC 285 and Aspinall winning an interim title at UFC 295, but for a number of reasons the bout never materialized. Jones suffered an injury in 2024 and was locked into a matchup with Stipe Miocic that was subsequently delayed, and the longtime light heavyweight king also said on multiple occasions he had no interest in granting Aspinall an undisputed title shot.
Aspinall moved on from the feud when Jones retired this past June only to quickly turn around and express his interest in fighting at a UFC White House event planned for June 2026. While Jones has targeted Alex Pereira, his comeback talk has kept the hopes of a confrontation with Aspinall alive.
Should it ever happen, St-Pierre sounds like he’s leaning towards his onetime training partner.
“It’s a hard fight to call,” St-Pierre said on a Kick broadcast with streamer Adin Ross. “In terms of accomplishments, Jon Jones has accomplished more than anyone. He’s the best. However, if you talk about today, who’s the best today, because Tom Aspinall he’s younger, he’s on momentum, but now his momentum just got broke a little bit. It was an eye gouge, but until that happened, it was a very close fight. I think we will see soon what will happen, they’re probably going to rematch because it was a very good fight. There were coming forward, hitting each other, it was a very good fight.
“But if [Jones and Aspinall] fight, I don’t know. I don’t know. Jones is an anomaly. You cannot bet against Jon Jones. Even though on paper, you might say he’s older, he’s not in his prime anymore, but man, he’s Jon Jones, you know what I mean?”
Though Jones, 38, has fought sporadically since 2020, his historical reign atop the light heavyweight division guarantees he’s part of any discussion of MMA’s pound-for-pound list. At the moment, Islam Makhachev appears to lead that list, though UFC champions Ilia Topuria, Merab Dvalishvili, Alexandre Pantoja, and Alex Pereira are also have an argument.
St-Pierre, a two-division UFC champion, has secured his own place on the all-time list, and he feels Jones always has to be mentioned as long as he’s active.
“I think Islam Makhachev is there, for sure,” St-Pierre said. “Topuria is there as well. Merab. Arman Tsarukyan is there, too. Of course, Jon Jones is there, I believe Jon Jones. I think I would put him there because of what he’s done. You never know. He left for a long time, he came back and he beat Stipe. There’s rumor about him fighting at the White House against Pereira, that would be interesting. Pereira is one of the top right now. Actually, on paper, you have to give it to him, that would be a great fight.”
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