Chael Sonnen’s boldest prediction for 2025 involves UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Jones defended his heavyweight title with a third-round finish of Stipe Miocic this past November in the UFC 309 headliner. Jones expressed interested in fighting light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and said he’d need “f*ck you money” to consider a title-unification bout with interim champ Tom Aspinall.
UFC CEO Dana White guaranteed that Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) fights Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in 2025, and if the matchup materializes, Sonnen says it’ll be the final time “Bones” makes the walk.
“If you wanted my boldest prediction of 2025, I’m actually very confident in the prediction, and that is that Jon Jones retires,” Sonnen said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Daniel Cormier. “I will tell you that Jon Jones is going to fight Tom Aspinall. I will tell you Jon’s going to do a lot better with Tom than some people are giving him credit for, but that’s tomorrow’s discussion. When that fight is done, win or lose, I do believe it will be Jon’s final appearance.
“He’s been looking for a way out. He’s been kind of talking to the fans and seeing what do I need to do before I go. He thought Stipe might be that door out, but that got delayed a little bit. It allowed an emersion of Tom while bringing down Ngannou and Sergei Pavlovich talk. I think Jon does have a pretty clear deal with the audience right now that there’s only one left for me, and I think that’s going to be Tom, and I do think that will be a goodbye for Jones.”
In a recent interview, Jones revealed that money is a motivator in his desire to fight. He said he’s targeting one or two more fights, with the goal of making as much money as possible.
