Heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will fight for the undisputed title at UFC 309 on Saturday night, but interim champion Tom Aspinall has a different take on it.
“Big heavyweight title fight this weekend,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “Bit of a strange one because in all honesty, who is really that interested in this fight being a title fight? I’ve never said anything about Jon Jones’ career or Stipe’s career and I never will. I respect what they’ve done in their careers. Amazing careers. What I’ve got against this fight in particular is it’s contested for an undisputed heavyweight title.
“For me, and I’m seeing online for a lot of other people, this is far from undisputed. This is the most disputed title that you can possibly get because it’s two champions and one of the champions, Jon Jones, is avoiding the other champion, me. He’s chosen to fight a 42-year-old Stipe, who’s had a fantastic career, both guys have had fantastic careers, great legacy, but let’s be honest, these are two old farts fighting each other for a title and occupying it, which is a bit weird.”
Jones has repeated shut down talk of fighting Aspinall if he beats Miocic this weekend, leaving the British star understandably frustrated that the title is being left out of reach despite being the true No.1 contender.
“The problem is he has the heavyweight title and I’m the No. 1 heavyweight in the world. Since I’ve been a young boy, since I first started training, me and my dad have had this dream that I’m going to be the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion of the world and he’s got it and he’s holding it hostage and he won’t fight me for it. This is nothing against Jon, this is nothing against his legacy, this is nothing against his career, this is nothing against who he’s fighting, what he’s fighting for, if he’s fighting for money, for legacy, for fame, whatever. This is because I want the belt and he’s got it. That’s all I’m after. That’s all I give a shit about is me being the undisputed, No. 1 heavyweight walking around on planet Earth and he’s avoiding me.”
And Aspinall doesn’t buy Jones excuse that he’s not a credible enough opponent to be worth fighting.
“[Jones] likes to be smart about his approach and control the narrative of fans by saying he’s the GOAT—which he’s definitely got a case for—by saying, ‘This guy Tom Aspinall’s a nobody.’
“I’m a nobody who has a No. 1 ranking and has finished five of the top-10 guys in the first round. I’m one of them top-10 guys, so that’s nine guys. Five of them I’ve beat in the first round, so there’s only four guys left in the top 10 who I haven’t beat. So I ain’t coming just for Jon Jones, I’m coming for the belt. Whoever has the belt is who I want to fight if I’m not the champion.”
And Aspinall concluded by pointing out the flaw in Jones argument that he needs to fight more champions to be relevant.
“Jon said I need to fight more champions, but this is the problem I’ve got. Jon is the champion and he won’t fight me and he says that he won’t fight me because it’s too much of a gamble.
“And Jon, if you’re not into gambling your legacy, that to me sounds like you’re scared of losing against me.”
Check out Aspinall’s full thoughts on the matter in his YouTube video below.
