Tom Aspinall told Jon Jones has ‘chink in his armour’ by UFC legend who trained with him

Jon Jones has weaknesses that Tom Aspinall can exploit.

‘Bones’ is widely considered to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time and has been almost perfect during his illustrious career.

The only blemish on his otherwise exemplary 27-1 record was a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill in 2009 for throwing 12-6 elbows – a decision that is hotly contested to this day.

In the years that followed his sole defeat, Jones dominated the sport, winning 18 straight fights and picking up world titles at light heavyweight and heavyweight.

His unorthodox striking coupled with his world-class wrestling have proved too much for anyone to crack just yet.

However, he is not without his faults. Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has sparred with Jones several times and insists fighters like Aspinall can cause him real problems.

“Jon’s chink in his armour from when I sparred with him is he doesn’t do well with speed,” he told talkSPORT MMA.

“If you’re fast it gives him a hard time. He uses his length to overcome that and then if you come in fast and maybe miss, then he grabs you and wears you down with his wrestling ability.

“Machida is one of the first guys to win a round against Jon, even Vitor Belfort was having success with him on the feet with speed.

“And then Dominick Reyes that was a close fight… I would have agreed if that had gone either way.

“And again, movement, speed. So Tom kind of represents that, he’s a good, fast, explosive heavyweight with good movement so there is a chance he could be a very dangerous fight for Jon because some of his attributes are weaknesses for Jon.”

Jones and Aspinall are on a collision course to meet each other in the cage.

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Providing Jones comes through his ‘legacy’ fight against Stipe Miocic in November unscathed, then the path will be cleared for him to face Aspinall in a UFC heavyweight title unification clash next.

Jones continues to distance himself from a fight with the interim champion.

But company president Dana White remains insistent that the UFC ‘always deliver the fights the fans want’.

Only time will tell whether this is the case with Jones vs Aspinall, which is quickly becoming the most talked about matchup in the sport.

Mir, like almost every single MMA fan on the planet, is clambering to see the contest, although he only sees it going one way.

“I can pick about five different reasons why Tom could win but at the end of the day, if you told me to put my money down on it if they fought within 12 months of now, I think Jon has an 80 to 90 per cent chance of winning the fight,” he added.

“He’s 37, he’s not old. He still has a reach advantage, he still has a crazy kick advantage that Tom hasn’t showcased as much.

“And if Tom closes distances he’s never submitting Jon and Jon outwrestles him.

“In a takedown competition, he doesn’t take him down one time. Jon’s wrestling is unreal.

“If Jon had gone a different path in life he would absolutely have been the Olympic champion at wrestling.”