UFC heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall has his sights set on the new champion.
The British fighter has been out of action since his clash with Curtis Blaydes last July. Just seconds into Aspinall’s bout with ‘Razor’ he suffered a knee injury. As a result, he lost by first-round stoppage, ending his five-fight octagon winning streak. During the winning streak, Aspinall had picked up wins over names such as Alexander Volkov and Andrei Arlovski.
Due to the injury, the 29-year-old has been out of action since then but is already working towards a return. While Aspinall is aware he won’t be returning to a title shot, he’s already imagining a fight with the new champion. Jon Jones famously claimed the vacant heavyweight championship with a submission victory over Ciryl Gane earlier this month at UFC 285.
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Tom Aspinall admitted a fight with ‘Bones’ is his dream matchup. While the Brit is hoping the fight will happen, he’s unsure it will. Aspinall opined that Jones could retire after a win over Stipe Miocic in July.
“Now with Jon Jones, it’s difficult to make an argument against him [being the GOAT].” Tom Aspinall stated on The MMA Hour. “The guy is special. He is special, and for him to be the champ of my division right now, like that gives me an unbelievable amount of motivation. Let’s be honest, I probably won’t fight him. But to just have the aim for, that’s something special for a guy like me.”
He continued, “I think he’ll probably face Stipe and leave it there, but I don’t know. I don’t know if he’ll start fighting up and comers like me… Maybe I’m wrong, that’s my dream fight honestly, to fight Jon Jones. That’s a serious motivation for me since he became champ. I know it was only like a week or two ago, but the GOAT is the champ of my division.”
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Randy Wiers