Tom Aspinall claims he never wanted to wait for Jon Jones.
Aspinall was the interim heavyweight champion for over a year as he was waiting to face Jones, and even had to defend his belt once. Yet, the Jones fight never happened as ‘Bones’ retired and Aspinall was promoted to the undisputed champion.
Although Tom Aspinall is now putting his focus on Ciryl Gane, the heavyweight champ admits he never wanted to wait to fight Jones.
“I mean, that isn’t entirely accurate,” Aspinall said to TNT Sports. “Now this is an exclusive coming live on TNT Sports. But there were a lot of times when the UFC would tell me, right, ‘The Jon Jones fight is happening in three months’ for example. So we’d start the training camp, the intensity would up and then the date would get moved.
“That happened like three or four times and then eventually he retired. So it wasn’t like I was literally sat waiting for the full year. I did think that the fight was going to come,” Aspinall added. “Everyone was saying, ‘Why are you waiting?’ I wasn’t waiting. I was getting told that the fight was happening, so there was nothing I could really do. My hands were completely tied by the UFC.”
It’s an intriguing comment from Tom Aspinall, who makes it clear he wanted to be active and didn’t care to fight Jon Jones as many thought he did.
Tom Aspinall vows to get rid of Ciryl Gane from the title picture
Aspinall is set to take on Gane in the main event of UFC 321 on October 25 in Abu Dhabi.
Aspinall enters the bout as a sizable betting favorite. He’s confident he will beat Gane and remove him from the title picture.
“Confidence level’s great,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “I believe that, well, I am the best heavyweight in the world. But I want to show that I’m the best heavyweight in the world. Ciryl Gane’s lost two title shots and I want to give him his third title shot loss and get him out of there.”
Aspinall is coming off a knockout win over Curtis Blaydes to defend the interim belt.