Tom
Aspinall (15-3) claims he has been guaranteed a fight against
Jon
Jones (28-1).
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Jones was originally scheduled to defend his title against Stipe
Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023 before being forced out with
an injury. Tom
Aspinall went on to knock out Sergei
Pavlovich in an interim title fight on the same card.
With no timeline in sight for Jones’ return at that point, Aspinall
initially called for “Bones” to be stripped off the title. The Brit
later changed tune and started calling for a title unifier upon
Jones’ return. However, Jones remained adamant on preserving his
matchup against Miocic, whom he defeated via third-round stoppage
at UFC 309
last month.
Despite Aspinall having even defended his title against Curtis
Blaydes in the meantime, Jones is still loathe to fight the
interim champ. While Jones was teasing retirement leading up to UFC
309, he is now plotting a mega fight against former champ Alex
Pereira . Jones is even willing to vacate the heavyweight title
rather than fight Aspinall, unless offered a “f—k you” payday.
However, Aspinall is hopeful about the matchup based on a
conversation he had with White while attending UFC 309. “Honey
Badger” claims White told him the Jones fight is happening, and
it’ll be the biggest in the history of the promotion.
“Actually, right after that press conference, I had a meeting with
Dana… So, in all honesty, I was expecting to come and maybe we
negotiate a little bit,” Aspinall told Piers Morgan. “And he
literally walks into the room and said, ‘It’s happening.’ And I
said, ‘Well, he’s going to want loads of money.’ He said, ‘I know,
but it’s happening.’ And he said, ‘It’s going to be the biggest
fight in UFC history.’”
Aspinall isn’t sure if Jones has agreed to the matchup and believes
the UFC doesn’t know much as well. However, the interim champ is
hopeful that the promotion will be willing to cough up big bucks to
make the fight happen.
“I don’t think so [Jones has agreed]. In all honesty, Jon Jones is
like, nobody knows what he’s doing, even the UFC. I don’t know. …
I would imagine so [the UFC will offer a mega payday]. I would
imagine so. I can’t speak for Dana.”
Jones won the heavyweight title by making quick work of Ciryl Gane
at UFC 285 last year, which marked his return to action after a
three-year hiatus. Jones has only defended his strap against Miocic
since. Meanwhile, Aspinall has finished all 15 of his career wins
so far. An injury loss against Blaydes in 2022 is his lone setback,
which he avenged at UFC 304 earlier this year.