Tom Aspinall’s comeback at UFC London wasn’t just about a win on the night. Aspinall needed to make a statement, after a year out of the Octagon thanks to a knee injury, that he’s ready to compete with the best of the best.
After dispatching Marcin Tybura inside a single round, Aspinall took to the post-fight press conference to lay out his assault on Jon Jones’ heavyweight title.
UFC Heavyweight Coming For Jon Jones
“I think I match up well. It’s a dream fight of mine, and I think I’m young and I’m fresh. I don’t have loads of [mileage in my career], and I’m big. I can do everything well, I’m fast, I’m strong, I’m heavy, which isn’t like a lot of his opponents in the past.
I just feel like I bring something different to him, I think he knows that as well. Or he should know moving forward.”Heading into the fight, Aspinall openly wondered whether Jones even knew he existed. When Jon Jones seemingly accepted Aspinall’s challenge via Twitter, the Englishman was thrilled.
“Jon Jones knows I exist, woo-hoo! That’s a win in itself. I’m buzzing with that. What I want to do, I’ve been saying it all week, is I want to win my fights going forward, of course, but also, another goal of mine is I want to motivate Jon Jones to stick around and fight me.
Like, that is my absolute dream, mate. A guy from Atherton fighting Jon Jones, mate? Oh my goodness me, that would be incredible.”
Aspinall represents a new type of heavyweight for the UFC. For a long time, heavyweights were simply big and strong, capable of delivering thunderous knockouts.
Aspinall is a well-rounded fighter with an elite grappling pedigree. He moves like a man almost one hundred pounds lighter.
There’s another of the new generation of heavyweights on the roster, Cyril Gane, and Aspinall fancies his chances against the French fighter.
“I think I match up pretty well against him. I think I’m equally as fast as him, I move equally as well. The difference is, I can grapple and I’ve got a lot of power, and I think that’s pretty undeniable at this stage of my career.”
Ultimately, Aspinall is gunning for the heavyweight title, regardless of who holds it.
“It’s not my goal [to fight Jon Jones]. I would love it to happen, [but] my goal is becoming heavyweight champion. That’s my life goal right now. But Jon Jones would just be an extra bonus. If I could get that, that would be amazing.
But if he retired, I wouldn’t be like, ‘Jon’s retired, oh, no.’ I’d be upset, obviously [that I wouldn’t get the chance], but it wouldn’t bother me.
I’ll fight the next guy who has the title, no problem.”
