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Jon Jones has officially retired from mixed martial arts competition.
“Jon Jones called us last night and retired,” UFC CEO Dana White said at today’s UFC Baku post-fight press conference. “Jon Jones is officially retired. Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC.”
Aspinall, who was the interim champion during Jones’ absence, has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity to unify his title with Jones. That obviously will not happen at this time.
“I obviously feel bad for Tom that he lost all that time and obviously money, but we’ll make it up to him,” White said. “Tom Aspinall’s a good guy. He’s been incredible through this whole process that we’ve gone through. He’s been willing to do anything, fight him anywhere at any time and do this and now he’s like ‘I’ll fight anybody — you tell me who and I’ll fight them.’
“Aspinall’s been great. He’s going to be a great heavyweight champion for us. I’m excited to work with him.”
Jones leaves the sport as arguably the best to ever compete. He held titles in both the UFC’s light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions and retires with a pro MMA record of 28-1.
