Jon ‘Bones’ Jones (28-1-0-1 MMA, 22-1-0-1 UFC) successfully defended his heavyweight belt for the first time this past Saturday night by scoring a third-round knockout win over Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The 37-year-old Jones dropped Miocic with a spinning back kick to the body and followed up with punches before the referee intervened with 31 seconds remaining in the frame. Jones cashed tickets as an enormous -550 favorite.

Bets on ‘over’ 2.5 rounds hit for a +116 payout at BetRivers. Props on Jones to win by TKO/KO (+135 return at FanDuel), in Round 3 (+800 at FanDuel) and inside the distance (-250 at DraftKings) were winners.

Yes, Jones was dominant once again in his second career fight in the heavyweight division, but let’s not overlook the fact that Miocic, at the age of 42 and fighting for the first time in more than 43 months (UFC 260 on March 27 of 2021), hadn’t been victorious in the Octagon since beating Daniel Cormier via unanimous decision at UFC 252 on Aug. 15 of 2020.

During fight week leading up to his victory over Miocic, Jones constantly deflected questions about a potential showdown against Tom Aspinall, the interim heavyweight champion who is 8-1 in the UFC with eight finishes inside of six minutes and nine seconds, including seven first-round finishes.

The only blemish on Aspinall’s resume is a TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes when the 31-year-old Brit blew out his knee throwing a kick 15 seconds into the contest. He returned to the Octagon 364 days later and needed only 73 seconds to dust Marcin Tybura by TKO (elbow and punches) in the UFC London main event on July 22 of 2023.

Less than four months later, Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) disposed of Sergei Pavlovich, who had won six straight scraps via first-round knockouts, by first-round KO in only 69 seconds in the UFC 295 co-main event to win the interim heavyweight strap.

Since then, Aspinall has defended his interim belt with a 60-second KO of Blaydes at UFC 304 this past July.

While dodging media inquiries about an Aspinall showdown last week, Jones instead expressed interest in facing former UFC middleweight kingpin and current light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira if he decided not to retire after UFC 309.

Well, Jones confirmed that he wasn’t leaving his gloves in the cage during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

He said, “As far as my future in the Octagon, I decided that maybe I will not retire. I have some conversations to have with [UFC President] Dana [White] and [UFC Chief Business Officer] Hunter [Campbell], and we have some negotiating to do. And if everything goes right, maybe we’ll give you guys what you want to see.”

In his post-fight media session later, Jones said, “Just the little sh*t that [Aspinall] does, he’s annoying to me.

“I just don’t like him, and at the end of the day, if I give him the opportunity to fight me, I want to be so compensated. I want to say it — I want that f***-you money, honestly. And that’s just what it is. That’s just what it is. Or else my life is perfect without him. I don’t need him at all and he needs me. And that’s a good place to be in a negotiation.”

When asked if there was specific dollar figure he had in mind, Jones responded, “I want to be compensated to the point where, if I won or lost, that it really wouldn’t matter.”

During a Q&A session Thursday on his YouTube channel, Aspinall said, “Yeah, we’re in negotiations right now. That’s the honest answer. So, we don’t know when the fight is going to be, but I’ll be ready to go whenever. I’m back in the gym now. I’m back in the gym training, as always.

“I’ll be ready to fight when they let me know. Until then, I’ll be improving, I’ll be getting better.

“So, no great rush on that. Obviously, I want to fight as soon as possible. But, right now, we’re just waiting on a date. That’s it.”

BetOnline has Aspinall installed as a -130 favorite vs. Jones, who is a +110 underdog. The fight has to take place before Aug. 31 of 2025 for bets to have action.