The Ariel Helwani Show - BREAKING: Jon Jones retires, Tom Aspinall is UFC champion, Ariel Helwani reacts to 'shameful' situation

Episode Date: June 22, 2025

Ariel Helwani gives his immediate reaction to Dana White announcing that Jon Jones has retired, making Tom Aspinall the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

Alright friends, happy Saturday. Ariel Hawani here on a Saturday night. UFC Baku has come and gone. If you're a real one, you know I tried to go live but my camera was shit, my mic was shit, and so I'm recording this and then, well here we are. Jamal Hill loses to Khalil Rountree, one sided affair, 50 to 45. You know the whole story. We'll talk about all of that on Monday, but that's not the news of the evening. You know this because you just clicked on this.

At the post-fight press conference in Baku, in Baku, Azerbaijan, site of this evening's UFC card on ABC, Dana White is asked, maybe 11 or 12 minutes into the press conference, he is asked, what's going on with the heavy weight title? In essence, I'm paraphrasing. And he proclaimed, so he was sitting on this, he didn't even announce it at the beginning. Didn't even start the whole thing with it. Talk about burying the lead. He announces to the world, John Jones is retired.

He called us last night. He is no longer the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Tom Aspinall is the Heavyweight Champion. He is then asked in a subsequent question, Alright, well who is Tom going to fight? He said, oh, Tom's coming to International fight. We were going to sit with him. You know, we got the meetings, all this stuff. They don't even have that ready. Did they tell Tom even before all this?

They say John Jones called them up last night. Coincidentally, two days ago, this interview with the NELK boys that was shot on Saturday after the DBX card is making the rounds where John Jones essentially says, I'm not so into it. He all but says, he's retired. This could have happened seven months ago. This could have happened on November 17th.

The fact that the illustrious career of John Jones, the supposed greatest of all time, ends at a post-fight press conference in Baku, Azerbaijan is a joke, is an absolute joke. I'm sorry, but this is an absolute joke. Tom Aspyn was going to Las Vegas. at the very least, present him the title. At the very least, do something to make it up for this guy who has been sitting there watching his career just waste away for the past seven months. Oh, by the way, his last flight was almost a year ago, 11 months. Do something.

This is the way it happens. This is the way it happens. This is the way it happens. Something that could have happened at the post-fight press conference in New York. John Jones never wanted to take this fight. And anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth. As I've said time and again, John Jones asked for a lot of money. He asked for the number that everyone was talking about. He's asked for a lot of money.

And as I said time and again, he deserved that money. He earned that money. After much negotiation, the UFC got him that money. Did they ask for help? That remains to be seen, but they got him the number. And John Jones said he was in. And then a couple days later, he said he was out. And ever since then, the UFC has been trying to convince him to come back, to take the fight, one last fight. And he said, no, he's doing the reality show. He's living his best life. He's doing seminars, all this stuff.

He's tweeting away. And so they've known for quite some time, several months, that he was out. Dana White told us a couple of weeks ago, what did he say? John Jones agreed, but I told you, I told you all, he wasn't telling you the real story. He wasn't telling you the full story. The full story was he agreed and then he reneged. Dana White guaranteed this fight would happen.

He guaranteed it would happen as recently as a couple of weeks ago. It was already not a thing. The way in which this has been handled has not been great. And the fact that Tom Aspinall, at the very least, couldn't get some sort of, oh, here's the belt, here's the ceremony, here's your fight, here's your date, is shameful. Now ultimately, Tom doesn't care about any of this. He really doesn't. He just wants to fight.

It was never about John Jones. As I've said time and again, John Jones was a great addition to the whole scenario, to the equation. Oh, wow, I could beat John Jones to become UFC Heavyweight Champion, undisputed, incredible. Look at me, look at the stars I've aligned for me. But ultimately this guy just wanted to become champion. He wanted to prove he was the best and by the way he has been the best for the

last couple years. Yesterday I spoke to GSP and I told GSP in that interview is gonna air on Monday, we spoke to him at Fanatics Fest, he did it the best. Again compare what he did to what John Jones did. And this is one of many reasons why I consider GSP the greatest of all time. When GSP beat Johnny Hendrix at UFC 167, he relinquished the belt that night. He didn't hold up anyone. He didn't stop anyone from living out their dreams. And in case you're wondering, that's a part of the fight game too.

Time honored tradition. The train rolls along. He comes back four years later to fight Michael Bisping, gives up the belt. Two, three weeks later, he's diagnosed with colitis. He beat Michael Bisping, who was the undisputed champion at the time. He didn't beat some interim champ or fight for a vacant title and he didn't hold up the division. That's how you do it. Not this. John Jones fought Surreal Gan for a vacant title. He didn't even beat the real champ who was Francis Ngannou. And then when he got hurt, he waited a full extra year to fight Stipe. The fight didn't make sense a year prior. He fought him a year later and it still didn't make sense.

And then when it was time to fight the interim champion, he campaigned for Alex Pereira. And then when Alex Pereira lost, he campaigned for Francis Ngannou. This was never about not wanting to fight. This was a calculated business decision on John Jones' end to say, hey, I could walk away undefeated. I could walk away as the man. And so he is. He's walking away because he doesn't want to fight Tom Aspinall.

Because if Francis Ngannou was there or Alex Pereira was there, he'd be trying to fight those guys. He's made that very clear. He doesn't want to fight Tom Aspinall. And so Tom Aspinall can walk around now with his chest up, chin up and say, I retired John Jones. Tom Aspinall retired John Jones. There is no doubt about that.

Tom Aspinall's presence is the reason why John Jones is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion. John Jones said yesterday, the fight doesn't excite me. You can make a strong case that this is, this would be the biggest John Jones fight since DC2 in 2017. 2017, that's how long. With all due respect to the Anthony Smiths, the Tiago Santos's, the Dominic Reyes, even Cyril Gunn and Stipe, you're telling me those fights

were bigger than this? What doesn't excite you about this? That you may lose? Listen, I've never subscribed to the Duck Stuff, but the way this has been handled has been shameful. It's been shameful. Like I said, UFC got him the money. Once he said no, it was time to move on. Tom Aspinal wants to fight twice this year. He'd like to fight in October and at the end of the year. More likely than not, you aren't getting those two fights.

In the prime of his life, when he's killing everyone, beating them by knockout in 60, 70, 80 seconds, he had to sit around and wait for a guy because the UFC didn't wanna move on in what was something that could have been determined back in November. It's shameful. And the way John is trying to spin this by like,

ah, he's such an awesome guy. He's such a great guy. But you know, he could slip and there could always be another one. It's shameful is the word that keeps coming to mind. It's conniving. It's unfortunate because John does have one of the greatest resumes of all time.

He really does. If you think he's the greatest of all time, God bless, you have a very strong case. But in my opinion, George St. Pierre never embarrassed himself, never embarrassed the organization, never cheated, never got caught using PEDs, beat the undisputed champion at 170, beat the undisputed champion at 185, never held up the division, vacated the title when you needed to, came back when you needed to. There's no debate.

All these things matter. Yes, he has two losses and yes, he avenged both those losses. All these things matter. But anyway, this isn't a John Jones versus GSP debate. This is John Jones is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion and Tom Aspinall is. And I presume Cyril Gunn will be the guy that gets the shot and I'm okay with that. I wonder how Tom feels about that

because John has already beaten him. If you're wondering, Tom is the champ, Cyril would be number one. There's Volkov out there, there's Pavlovich out there, he has the win. There's Blades out there, he has the win and didn't look tremendous today. And there's Almeida at six.

It's not a great heavyweight division. It really isn't. Derek Lewis says he doesn't want to be fighting for the belt. He might be one or two wins away from fighting for the belt. But what, what frustrates me about all this is that this could have happened a long ass time ago. This could have happened a long time ago. This could have happened at the, at the worst three months ago, four months ago, but in reality, it could have happened

seven months ago. And the way it's announced so nonchalantly, like when, when, when that interview with the Nelk boys came out on Thursday, I was foaming at the mouth. I was like, Oh man, I wish I was live today, but the boys in the back were there. I didn't want to take their time. There were so many the back were there. I didn't want to take their time. There were so many things in that interview that was just like, what are we doing? Starting with, did you notice, I don't know if you guys saw it, but he's asked about whether or not he ever fought in Canada.

And then, and then the NELC boy guy says Montreal, Toronto. And he's like Montreal Gustafson 165. You didn't know that that was Toronto? And then the NELK boy guy says, Montreal, Toronto. And he's like, Montreal, Gustafson, 165. You didn't know that that was Toronto? That's like confusing Chicago and New York. Even in that conversation, he's talking about, oh, if Francis presents himself in a humble way, maybe he could come back.

Like, to sort of pretend like, well, you haven't butted heads with the UFC brass in a humble way. He kept saying that, you know, he legally can't, you know, he can't give up the belt. He can't do anything before the UFC announces it. He could have done it on the night. What did, did Henry Cejudo need a legal document to relinquish the belt? Did George St. Pierre need a legal document to relinquish the belt?

Here's where he's right. He has done enough, but it was just so frustrating to see this story, which we all knew was going to a very likely conclusion, not just play out. I can't even imagine how the Aspen halls feel about all this. It's 12 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and he's like, we all knew was going to a very likely conclusion, not just play out.

I can't even imagine how the Aspen Alls feel about all this. It's 12 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and they get a call saying, oh yeah, oh by the way, over in Baku, we just announced you're the Heavyweight Champion. Your life's work has come to a culmination, and God bless.

We'll see you soon, all right? We'll let you know who you're fighting. What? What the hell? And you could say, you could do the whole like, Oh, there's always going to be someone else. There was literally no one else. There was no one else in the UFC.

No one. It was that guy. It was one guy left that we were teased about for seven months that we were told, guarantee it's going to happen. And, uh, they, they, they tried to make it happen, but once it was very clear, time to move on time to move on. The truth is, despite the fact that people might say greatest of all time, there's so many question marks about the career. I'm not even talking about the tests and all that.

I'm talking about the fact that from 2020 to 2023, he didn't fight. And then the entry and then the steep a fight like essentially since, I don't know, since the Reyes fight, which I still think he lost by the way, I still think he lost. It's just been very disappointing. And, and, and, and the, the, the attempt to try to change the narrative about all of this is extremely frustrating. Tom Aspinall deserves to be the UFC heavyweight champion. He deserved to be the UFC heavyweight champion when he beat Sergei Pavlovich in New York. He should have fought for the belt. That's when he should, he should be, he should be entering or approaching, I

should say year two of his reign. He tweeted for you fans, it's time to get this heavyweight champion, his heavyweight division going and active undisputed champion. God bless. To me, he was always the champion. By the way, he becomes just the second fighter in UFC history to become undisputed champion due to a retirement. The other Robert Whitaker who became champion after GSP retired. He becomes the fifth interim champion to be promoted to undisputed.

This from my friend, a Jedi Goodman. Andrej Olavsky was promoted in 2005 after Frank Mir was stripped due to inactivity. Hannah Brown was promoted in 2014 after Cruz was stripped or vacated. Jose Aldo was promoted after Conor McGregor was stripped in 2016 and Whitaker in 2017 after GSP got sick. People say it very easily and commonly about, you know, John being the greatest of all time. But I think I will say to my dying days as GSP for all those reasons and why they couldn't just wait a week to do this properly is baffling.

A good tweet here from Jay Petrie with John Jones' retirement. There are currently no American male champions in the UFC first time since 2004. And back then there were just four active divisions. That's been the case. American male champions in the UFC first time since 2004. And back then there were just four active divisions. That's been the case. Baku, Azerbaijan, the site of the end of John Jones's career. Dana White guaranteed back in December, guaranteed that the fight would happen and guaranteed in December guaranteed that the fight would happen and guaranteed throughout the year that the fight would happen.

It ain't happening. Crazy at a random post fight press conference. Shameful. Did the interview, pretty much in my opinion, did the interview, their back was against the wall, we got to announce no, and then they sat on him. And so there it is. Let me know in the comment section below how you feel about all this. A, let me know how you feel about the way it was announced.

B, let me know how you feel about who Tom Aspinall should fight in his first title defense official. Let me know how you think that fight would have gone between John Jones and Tom Aspinall. Let me know if you're willing to go to Baku, Azerbaijan very soon to announce some massive news in your own personal life. And, um, and when are we going to see Tom Abu Dhabi? Look, we're not going to see him in September, no pay-per-view. And so the next option is either that early October, November is going to be fascinating

because you're probably going to get JDM versus Islam. You're probably going to get uncle live or spray and you're probably going to get Tom Aspinall versus whomever probably, I don't know, surreal gun. And so you're going to get some big fights in October, November, because there are three paper views in the span of a month and a half. I just can't get over the fact that it ends like this. I'm sorry. I can't get over the fact that it ends like this.

big fights in October, November, because there are three paper views in the span of a month and a half. I just can't get over the fact that it ends like this. I'm sorry, I can't get over the fact that it ends like this. And listening to that interview where he's talking about there's nothing that excites me about this, when this would have years, right? Three, five, nonsense. Tom Aspinall on June 21st, June 22nd in Azerbaijan, retired John Jones. And anyone who tells you otherwise is, is not being truthful. The presence of Tom Aspinall retired John Jones. And it's kind of wild to see it all play out this way because presence of Tom Aspinall retired John Jones. And it's kind of wild to see it all play out this way.

Because I will admit, when Dana's sitting up there and saying 100% it's gonna happen, I'm believing it's gonna happen. When I found out that they got him the money, I believed it was gonna happen. But in the end, you are not wrong for at least assuming that maybe he just never wanted to fight and thought that like with the Francis

and Ghani negotiations, they weren't going to get him the money. And then he could say, Hey, they don't want to pay me. He can't say that. He can't say that everything we've reported on this has been a hundred percent accurate, has been spot on and has essentially been verified. And I told you recently he was out and now he's out and now we're moving on. And so Tom Aspinall is the champion. We'll talk more about this on Monday.

I wanted to react. I screwed up the live stream. I was cooking and then I realized that my mic sucked and my camera sucked. So I hope this suffices, but I'm fired up and I don't even know if I got everything out, but I think I did. Baku, Azerbaijan, the site of the end of John Jones's career. What? Post-Breit Press Conference. What post-break press conference at two in the morning? What you have international fight week in five days. Do something there.

Do something at an open workout, do something at a press conference, do something on fight night, like you did for Jose Aldo, do something. What insane, insane. Congratulations, Tom. You were the young crown champ. Now that you're the young crown champ, you're the young crown champ. You're the young crown champ. You're What? Insane. Insane. Congratulations, Tom. You were the uncrowned champ. Now that you're the undisputed champ, you were supposed to be the champ back in November of, what was it, 2023. You've got what you've earned and what you deserve.

And we look forward now to your first title defense. We'll talk to you on Monday. Peace out. Thank you for watching. Please sub as well.