Gable Steveson Says Vacant Title Could Spark Jon Jones Return
Gable Steveson said Tom Aspinall giving up the heavyweight belt could pull Jon Jones back toward a UFC fight. Speaking to RMC Sport ahead of UFC 331, the Olympic wrestler framed the vacant title as the kind of opening that might change Jones’ plans.
“I think Jon would like to come back also, you know, maybe, maybe, maybe seeing this belt open up, put another fire into him,” Steveson said.
Aspinall vacated the championship on Monday after ongoing eye problems left him without medical clearance. He has not finished a fight since inheriting the belt from Jones, and his October 2025 meeting with Ciryl Gane ended in a no contest because of eye pokes.
“I’m absolutely gutted,” Aspinall wrote. “I’ve chased this dream since I was 10 years old.”
He said he had agreed to a date, returned to sparring, and then suffered more damage to his right eye in a training accident. The timing of a return, he added, is unclear.
Steveson did not treat the vacancy as a reason to freeze the division. He said Gane deserves to keep moving, and he called the Frenchman a fighter who has already beaten almost everyone in front of him.
“He’s a fantastic fighter,” Steveson said. “He’s a guy that goes out there and he’s beating everybody besides literally the Infinity Stones of fighting, you know, and Ganu, John, and, who else? Tom, I believe so also.”
That list was Francis Ngannou, Jones, and Aspinall. Steveson put Gane just below that group and said he wants to see Gane “do his thing.”
Gane already holds the interim title after a second-round stoppage of Alex Pereira at the White House in June. Several reports now expect the UFC to elevate him to undisputed champion rather than leave the division parked until Aspinall is cleared.
Steveson has also heard the same next-fight rumor Daniel Cormier has pushed. He mentioned Josh Hokit as a possible Gane opponent and did not dismiss it.
“I’ve heard rumors of Josh Hooke, that’d be a fantastic fight, you know?” Steveson said. “Josh is another fast guy that can keep up with the pace of Gaon.”
He stopped short of picking it. “Maybe Josh Hooke can go out there and do his thing, but I’m not sure,” he said. “Whoever they pick would be a fantastic fight and hopefully it’ll work out soon.”
Hokit has already called for Gane and dragged Jones into the argument after Steveson’s UFC debut. The two heavyweights have traded public shots since July, when Steveson finished Elisha Ellison in the first round at UFC 329.
Steveson’s Jones comments carried more weight than a random prediction. He said Jones is still his everyday training partner in Albuquerque, which is how he is measuring whether a comeback is realistic.
“I’ve seen what he can still do, and I know he can do it at the highest level, and maybe his time will come again, and I think it will,” Steveson said.
Jones has not fought since knocking out Stipe Miocic in November 2024. He has left the door cracked in public, including a “never say never” note earlier this year while he helped Steveson prepare for that debut.
None of that is a booking. Steveson was describing what he sees in the gym and what he thinks a vacant belt might do to a former champion who still trains at a high level.
The heavyweight picture is already moving without Jones. UFC rankings shifted after Aspinall stepped aside, and Gane is the man the promotion can put on posters immediately.
UFC 331 is this Sunday, with Joshua Van meeting Alexandre Pantoja in a flyweight title rematch. The heavyweight title fight Steveson is talking about is the one the UFC still has to make.