Adam Catterall has spoken to talkSPORT after Jon Jones walked out of an interview with him to avoid being questioned about Tom Aspinall.
The UFC heavyweight champion is set to defend his belt against Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Jones refused to speak to Catterall before his fight on Saturday[/caption]
Miocic hasn’t stepped foot in the Octagon since losing the title via knockout to Francis Ngannou in March 2021.
Several members of the MMA fraternity believe the Ohio fighter isn’t deserving of an immediate title shot after such a long stretch of inactivity, especially at 42 years old.
The fight everyone wants to see is Jones against interim champion Tom Aspinall, who has cleared out the entire division during his charge to the top.
Jones has shown little interest in fighting Aspinall and even suggested a few days ago that he would rather take on UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira next.
The dual-weight UFC champion has been quizzed about Aspinall throughout fight week but when it came to an interview with Catterall for TNT Sports, he decided against it.
“Hey I’m not going to do this interview,” Jones said as he headed for the exit after shaking hands with Catterall.
“Because It’s going to be an Aspinall fest. I’m not going to do it.”
Catterall, who also works for talkSPORT, co-hosts a show with Aspinall for TNT and has been very critical about Jones not fighting the Brit.
Talking about his frosty encounter with the American MMA legend during an appearance on talkSPORT Drive this afternoon, he said: “I’m cool, I’m all right…
“I’ve been very vocal about that situation and obviously, people know that I do a TV show with Tom, and I am close to him. I’m not going to lie about that.
Catterall came on talkSPORT Drive to clarify the situation[/caption]
“Of course, he knows that, but I’ve been in these situations plenty of times before, covering boxing and MMA, and I’d like to think I’m pretty professional.
“I’m always going to give people a first shake. I want to have a proper conversation. Of course, I’m going to challenge narratives that are thrown back at me, because that’s what I do.
“That’s what proper journalism is and he is in the headspace of preparing for a fight on Saturday night.
“If he doesn’t want to have that proper conversation, then he’s well within his rights and entitled to not have that conversation.
“He didn’t want to do that. He walked away. I then went about trying to facilitate something else in order to get Jon Jones back onto the TNT platform.
“So I agreed to step down from the interview, and my colleague Nick Peet stepped in, and he ended up doing the interview.
Catterall intended to quiz Jones on the Aspinall fight[/caption]
“He just wouldn’t speak to me because of my relationship with Tom. That was it.”
Catterall then explained what he planned to ask Jones.
“The arguments that I’ve been making and arguing throughout fight week would have happened in the interview if we would have had the conversation,” added Catterall.
“[He says] ‘What has Tom Aspinall done?’ That’s Jon’s basic first line of answer.
“Well, he’s been five of the top 10 guys. He’s the interim champion. He’s won eight fights in the UFC, he’s finished every single one of them and he’s done seven of them in the first round.
“It’s ridiculous. If you compare that to when Jon became champion back in 2011 it blows Jon’s numbers out of the water.
“So he’s done more than enough to earn that opportunity. The reason Jon that Jon does not want to fight Tom Aspinall, and I have no problem saying to you and Jon’s face is that he doesn’t fully believe he can beat him.
“And at this stage in his life and his career, Jon’s an undefeated fighter, and he wants to protect that legacy. He doesn’t want to fight the next best guy. It’s as simple as that.”
