Cain Velasquez has made his pick should Jon Jones defend his UFC heavyweight title against Tom Aspinall in 2025.

Velasquez, one of the most feared UFC heavyweight champions in history and longtime training partner of Jones rival Daniel Cormier, has long studied Jones given his role as a key training partner for Cormier in his two fights with Jones — and as such has developed quite an admiration for the skills shown in the cage by the reigning champion.

Waiting in the wings, though, has been the interim champion Aspinall who has been vocally campaigning for a showdown with Jones since he won a share of the heavyweight title in November 2023 — and subsequently defended it this past summer with a 60-second shellacking of perennial contender Curtis Blaydes.

But amid rumours that UFC boss Dana White is going to splash the cash to ensure that Jones vs. Aspinall takes place this year, Velasquez says he is of the opinion that the champion will be a bit too wily for the young challenger.

“No, I don’t think he [Aspinall would defeat Jones],” Velasquez told Ariel Helwani this week, as noted by MMA Fighting.

“Me, just watching him, I kind of see his pattern a little bit in his striking, the way he comes in and strikes. I think Jon sees it too. So, I think with that — Jon studies. He does his homework. He’s a master at this. He analyzes things, he studies you over and over again. I think just for that reason, he’s going to know what to do. So I don’t think he beats Jon.”

“Everybody has a fight pattern,” Velasquez added. “Some people disguise it better than others. The simple fact is the way Tom, the way that he comes in and fights, he has a pattern that’s somewhat easier to find. When he comes in and strikes.

“A lot of things come with that. It’s disguising the pattern, it’s throwing fakes before. But when he comes in and attacks, he comes in and attacks. It’s 100 percent, full go. He comes in and glides in, lunges in, and does his attack. Not that it’s not effective, it is! He’s done great things with it. Look where he’s at now.

“I’m not taking anything away from him. But I think that the type of guy that Jon Jones is, I think he studies him and he beats him because of that.”