Tom Aspinall should do not have He's scheduled to defend his interim UFC heavyweight title, but the rematch will likely do just that. Curtis Blaydes He will appear in the co-main event of UFC 304 this month (Sat., July 27, 2024).
The British superstar won the provisional gold medal in the absence of the unbeaten title holder. Jon JonesJones, a former two-time district champion, was named after “Bones” tore a pectoral muscle late last year. Stipe MiocicIt was already a questionable combination.
Miocic hasn't fought since a knockout loss in 2021, and Jones hasn't fought since winning the vacant belt in March 2023, but the promotion is adamant the fight will go ahead. Depending on how things go at UFC 304, the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champions Daniel CormierI can see a serious fan revolt coming.
“Can you imagine what would happen if Tom Aspinall beat Curtis Blaydes?” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “And the firestorm that would assemble for him to fight. [Jon] Jones? To really spark a rebellion, Aspinall has to beat Blaydes. And there's only one reason for that: because we've seen Curtis Blaydes lose, people will think, “Oh, he beat Tom Aspinall, but then we saw him lose to Francis.” [Ngannou] And then you lose to the others.”
“If Aspinall can get past Blades, Sergey [Pavlovich]“If he only lost because of injury, people are going to be upset,” he continued. “I've pretty much made the case for him vs. Jones, but if Tom Aspinall survives this fight and looks to have the upper hand cleanly, there might be a fan revolt and the UFC might be forced to do Jones vs. Aspinall. I don't know what that means for my friend Steep.” [Miocic]but if that were to happen, he seems okay with it.”
Blaydes is the only fighter to defeat Aspinall in his eight UFC fights (14-3 overall): “Razor” defeated Aspinall in July 2022 when the UFC London main event ended abruptly with a 15-second technical knockout after Aspinall tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ( watch highlights ).
