Tom Aspinall isn't going to sit around waiting for a fight with Jon Jones that may never come.
In November of this year, Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovic in 69 seconds at UFC 295 to win the interim heavyweight title. Aspinall has since called for a title unification fight with Jon Jones upon Jones' return from injury, but the heavyweight champion appears to be interested in facing Stipe Miocic. Instead. However, with the UFC rumored to be returning to Manchester, England for pay-per-view events this summer, Aspinall says there is no chance he will sit back and wait for Jones without a fight in his hometown.
“A lot of people were like, 'Wait a minute! You don't have to defend that.' Do you really think I'm going to sit in Manchester and watch my hometown show and not fight?” Aspinall said: MMA hour. “Come. Absolutely not. I have to fight someone. …
“I took a year off with an injury, a potentially career-ending injury. I don't want my career to end and I'm not going to wait on the sidelines. I'm going to go and do my thing. I want to do things and prove that I'm the best. I'm not a person to mince words. I'm not a guy who says hold on for this. I'm a fighter. I want to fight people. That's why I came here. I think I'm still far from my prime. Why should I do that when my body and mind are good?”
Although it's not confirmed yet, it looks like the UFC will be heading to Manchester in July for UFC 304. This will be the promotion's first event in Manchester since UFC 204, where Michael Bisping defended his UFC middleweight title against Dan Henderson and avenged his previous career. loss. Aspinall will have the same opportunity this summer if he has a douceur.
Asked who his opponent would be, Aspinall said, “Curtis Blaydes, of course.” “We were supposed to fight. We scuffled for 15 seconds and I injured my knee, but he beat me. So of course I want that fight first.
“First of all, let's not get an unfair win here. Jon Jones is the guy I want to fight. That's not happening. Then of course I'll go to Stipe. He's free. No such thing. It's not happening. So the next fight I want to fight is Curtis Blaydes, because there's still some unfinished business. That's nothing against Curtis personally. I actually like Curtis. We both We had a great time together. I met his father, his team, great people. The type of people who are at the top of the food chain, people like me. Professionally speaking. We want to get it back because we have a big problem here.”
As Aspinall pointed out, Blaydes is the only man to defeat a British fighter in the UFC, and Aspinall defeated a knee in the 2022 bout almost immediately. Blaydes was then knocked out by Sergei Pavlovich, but recently bounced back with a knockout victory of his own. Defeated Jaylton Almeida at UFC 299.
However, Blaydes may not end up being asked to face Aspinall. Former interim heavyweight champion Cyril Gane is still on the list, and while Aspinall would be open to taking the fight, it would not be his first choice.
“Then I'll take him,” Aspinall said. “He's fired me many times, but I'm not the first person he's fired. I'm not the first person he's cheated on. It's there for people to see. The reason he ended up fighting Pavlovich was because Cyril didn't want it. He fended off Pavlovich. Then he fended off Curtis Blaydes. …who fought him years ago. I asked for him, but I didn't want to at the time. Then I asked for him to Paris, and they took me on a plane, and we tried to have that fight, and He didn't want that. Let's see what the UFC wants to do. …
“I'm not denying his skills, I'm not denying his credibility as a person. I like him. We spent time together. He's a good guy. I don't like the way he operates professionally because it's the exact opposite of how I operate. I'm here to fight people. I'm here to prove I'm the best. I'm here to fight the people. So if we have to fight, that's great. I'm here to fight the people.”
UFC 304 is rumored to take place in July at the new Co-op Live arena, which is scheduled to open this month.
