Tom Aspinall won’t be surprised if he never crosses paths with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Jones has hinted that he could retire after a couple of title defenses. He’s been linked to a matchup with former champ Stipe Miocic, who’s widely considered the greatest heavyweight of all time. So if Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) can add someone like Miocic to his resume, Aspinall (12-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) wonders if he’d even be motivated to fight young up-and-comers such as himself or Sergei Pavlovich.
“I’ve been saying this for ages,” Aspinall told Michael Bisping in a recent interview. “I was like, ‘Look, he’s going to go up there, he’ll have one fight, fight Stipe, and then retire.’ Everyone says, ‘He signed an eight-fight deal or whatever, a six-fight deal, and he’s put all this weight on.’ I’m like, there’s no chance.
“The guy doesn’t have to be fighting someone like me or someone like Pavlovich or someone like that. He’s not gonna want to take on young contenders anymore. And fair play to him. I don’t blame him. He doesn’t have to. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody. The guy’s done everything. I always thought from the beginning, maybe he’ll come up, have one or two fights, and then leave it at that. I’m sure that’s what he’s gonna do.”
Aspinall suffered his first octagon loss last July when he injured his knee in a quick TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes. He plans on headlining the UFC’s return to London on July 22. After beating Aspinall, Blaydes went on to fight Pavlovich but was stopped in Round 1 in the UFC Fight Night 222 headliner last month.
Pavlovich, who has scored six straight first-round knockouts, called out Jones after stopping Blaydes and is willing to wait for the winner of the expected bout between Jones and Miocic.