Tom Aspinall (15-3) insists he is guaranteed a fight with Jon Jones (28-1).
Jones was originally scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023, but was forced to withdraw due to injury. Tom Aspinall KO’d Sergei Pavlovic in an interim title match on the same card.
There was no timeline for Jones’ return at that point, and Aspinall had initially called for “Bones” to be stripped of the title. The British then changed their tune and began to seek a title unifier upon Jones’ return. But Jones was adamant about holding on to face Miocic, whom he lost after a three-round stoppage at UFC 309 last month.
Meanwhile, even though Aspinall defended his title against Curtis Blaydes, Jones remains reluctant to fight the interim champion. Jones teased retirement in the lead up to UFC 309, but is now planning a megafight with former champion Alex Pereira. Jones is even willing to vacate the heavyweight title rather than fight Aspinall unless he is offered a “shithole” paycheck.
But Aspinall is excited about the matchup based on a conversation he had with White while watching UFC 309. “Ratel” claims that White told him the Jones fight was happening and would be the biggest in the promotion’s history.
“I actually met with Dana right after that press conference… so to be honest, I was expecting it to come and maybe we could negotiate a little bit,” Aspinall said of Piers. told Morgan. “And he literally walked into the room and said, ‘It’s happening.’ And I said, ‘He’s going to want a lot of money.’ He said, “I know, but it’s actually happening.” And he said, “It’s going to be the biggest fight in UFC history.”
Aspinall isn’t sure if Jones agreed to the matchup and believes the UFC doesn’t know much as well. But the interim champion is hopeful the promotion will shell out big bucks to make this fight happen.
“i don’t think so [Jones has agreed]. Let’s be honest, Jon Jones is like no one knows what he’s doing, not even the UFC. I don’t know. …That’s how I imagine it. [the UFC will offer a mega payday]. You would imagine so. I cannot speak for my husband. ”
Jones won the heavyweight title with a quick decision over Cyrill Gane at UFC 285 last year, marking his return after a three-year hiatus. Since then, Jones has only defended the strap against Miocic. Aspinall, on the other hand, has won all 15 of his career. His only setback was an injury loss to Blaydes in 2022, but he got revenge at UFC 304 earlier this year.
