The interim heavyweight champion of the UFC Tom Aspinall is finally putting some heat on champion Jon Jones. Jon Jones defeated Cyril Gane for the vacant heavyweight title after Francis Ngannou departed from the UFC. After this he was booked to fight Stipe Miocic however with one week to go Jones suffered a chest injury. This resulted in Tom Aspinall stepping in on a weeks notice to fight the back up opponent Sergei Pavlovich for the interim belt. Aspinall flattened Pavlovich and since has flattened Curtis Blaydes.
In the meantime whilst recovering Jon Jones has said everything he can to undermine Aspinall on Twitter. And Dana White for some reason is still intent to make Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic despite Tom Aspinall being the clear number 1. Jones has also made it clear he intends to retire after the Stipe fight. Throughout all of this Tom Aspinall has remained respectful while calling out Jones. However now he seems to be at his wits end.
Tom Aspinall on Believe You Me
Aspinall vented his frustrations in an interview on Michael Bisping’s podcast Believe You Me. 9 minutes in Bisping brought up Aspinalls Joe Biden line regarding Stipe on Aspinall’s recent fight lab. Aspinall said,” Yeah I’m sorry Anthony I know he’s your friend I’m just trying to get a fight.” As Tom knows Anthony Smith Bisping’s co-host is a friend of Stipe.
Aspinall elborated, “I never have anything against anyone personally erm it’s just a sport. I’m just having a laugh do you know what I mean. But, am I right though? Am I right because what the f*ck is going on. What is going on?” Pretty much staying firm on stance that Stipe shouldn’t really be in their given his age.
When asked the Jones vs Stipe fight Aspinall revealed, “They want me to be a back up fighter for it. But, why are you giving a guy who’s 42 or however old he is? I completely understand and have the upmost respect for Stipe and what he’s done in his career and Jon Jones on the contrary to what people might think. Respect them guys more than I can put into words.” Also making sure everyone knows he respects both fighters.
Then Aspinall said, “But, they don’t f*cking deserve to be fighting for the heavyweight title. Them guys are not the top of the heavyweight division right now. You know Dana White and everybody else can say what they want. Them guys are not the best in the world right now.” This is fair regarding Stipe who’s been out for years losing his last fight. And, Jones has fought one heavyweight who was a good stylistic match up. In comparison Tom has been active and consistently beaten the top heavyweights.
Aspinall Think’s He’ll Retire Jones
Aspinall continued, “And I’m not saying that they haven’t had amazing careers cause I idolise them guys I want to have a career like that. That is what I’m aiming to do with me life what they got. But, they’re not the best right now, right now they’re definitely not the best so let’s stop talking all this bullsh*t like they are.” Again restating his respect.
Bisping asked Aspinall about him calling Jones a f*nny to which Tom replied, ” I still stand by that”. Aspinall then said, “Jon Jones he was praying I would lose that fight against Curtis Blaydes mate praying that I would. Because there is nowhere publicly you find nowhere of him saying he will fight me. It doesn’t exist I challenge anyone watching this interview to go find a statement, a quote, a video of Jones saying he’ll fight me after he’s fought Stipe. It doesn’t exist.” And it really does seem that is the case Jones has barely acknowledged Aspinall.
Aspinall continued his roll saying, “Jones is overweight these days. The guy was sat there mate with the cheeto fingers or whatever the doritos on his fingers with his iphone in hand waiting for me to get knocked out so he can start tweeting about it. Let’s be honest since I’ve won that fight he’s gone radio quiet and he’ll continue to go completely quiet about me until he retires. Because there is no way on earth that he’s gonna fight me no chance. I will retire Jon Jones without even fighting him “
Allusions to Jones Criminal Past
Aspinall was then asked if he’s moved on from the Jones fight. Aspinall replied, “the way I look at it I’m the best heavyweight in the world and I’m not getting my credit for it. They’re holding the belt hostage mate and Jon Jones is loving it he is loving it. He’s loving the fact that Dana White is getting on every interview possible. Friggin hell if you’re talking about bantamweights and Dana White flips it back and starts talking about how goof Jon Jones is. I’m like mate if he’s that good let’s fight like I’m the number one heavyweight in the world right now. Let’s put it on the line let’s see who the man is me or Jon simple as that. ” So Aspinall very much wants to fight Jon and is frustrated Dana is letting Jon duck him.
Apinall also thinks, “A lot of people get it twisted about me disrespecting Jon and all that stuff and mate there is plenty of ammo out there for me to get out there online and disrespect Jon Jones. There’s plenty of ammo that people know about Jon Jones’ personal life and I ain’t going there I’m not about that. I’m about I’m the best fighter in the world, I’m the best heavyweight in the world Jon Jones isn’t. And I’m willing to prove it and he’s not that’s what I’m about. I’m about being the best heavyweight in the world. It’s well documented Jon Jones isn’t the best human being in the world. But, I ain’t going there I don’t want to get there I don’t want to make it personal.” Alluding to Jones criminal history. Which Aspinall would be well within his rights to bring up
Aspinall Brings up Failed Drugs Tests
He then went on to say, “I want to be known as the best heavyweight in the world because I believe I am. And if he believes that he is let’s fight about it and settle it. simple as that”. Bisping went on to praise Tom’s restraint and how respectful he has been. Tom was asked to confirm if he is the back up fighter Tom said, “Yes mate that’s confirmed and I will jump in on 1 hours notice if I have to and beat either of them.”
Aspinall was also asked about potentially slacking on a camp given he’s the back up. Tom said, “Absolutely not, mate I will be more prepared for that fight if it happens than I was for my last fight. Every training camp I’m getting more and more mature and more and more I’m getting better. I’m going to prepare more I know who to train with, what to train, how my body feels and all that stuff. And mate I’ve never ever ever been as focused in my life as I am right now. Like I will step in put the gloves on and take my shirt of and fight these guys on an hours notice if I need to.”
Aspinall was also asked about who he looked up to more. He said, “Well I look up to Stipe more because… don’t make me say it Anthony don’t make me say it. Well if there’s anything about a drug test going on that’s a bit of an asterisk next to your name if there’s a drug test going on. Same as you know when people talk about Anderson Silva being the best of all time you know. He definitely was but there was definitely some other stuff going on there.”
Angry Aspinall
He also added that, “I don’t know either guy personally but Stipe definitely seems more like my type of human being than Jon Jones.” Bisping also brought up how he’s noticed that Aspinall seems more angry and assertive compared to initially. Tom said, “Yes it’s p*ssing me off. I don’t like to f*cking complain cause everybody will be like ‘oh you’re crying about this blah blah blah’. There’s 6 guys in the top 10 Who I’ve finished in the first round. Just let that sink in a minute. There’s 6 guys in the top 10 who I’ve finished in the first round.”
Aspinall continued, “I just beat the number one contender who is Cyril Gane and the number one contender before him who was Sergei Pavlovich. In a combined time of two minutes and seven seconds. 2 fights Jon isn’t doing that he beat one man Cyril Gane who didn’t want to be there 2 years ago. And he’s walking around calling himself the real champion.”. He meant to say Curtis Blaydes in the first part however the point still stands.
Talking about Jon he said, “Granted he’s been champion most of his career not at heavyweight I’m the guy at heavyweight. Not him me. so I want to be recognised as the best. I’ve got the real belt, I’m the one defending. He’s the one defending against a 42 year old Stipe Miocic with a million miles on the clock. If you want to be the real guy you have to fight me.”
After this the interview moved on to Tom’s holiday and his newfound financial security courtesy of fighting in the UFC. This interview is really the first time we’ve seen Tom Aspinall this heated. And we could be seeing more and potentially more personal stuff. Tom said he didn’t want to go there not that he won’t. Hopefully we see Tom continue to pile on the pressure and press Jones to either fight him or retire. Most likely Jones will retire but we may yet see Aspinall vs Jones.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images