Tom Aspinall's stock has risen over the course of the last year, to the point where some have felt that he should be the one who faces UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones next instead of Stipe Miocic.
After missing about a year of action after a knee injury mere seconds into a fight with Curtis Blaydes, Aspinall rebounded with a quick knockout of Marcin Tybura before a finish of Sergei Pavlovich to capture the interim UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 295 last November.
That fight came on just two weeks' notice after Jones tore his pec, causing the originally planned main event with Miocic to be postponed.
While the belief has been that the UFC wants to wait for the opportunity to rebook Jones vs. Miocic, some fans and pundits feel that it would be more ideal for Jones and Aspinall to face off and unify the heavyweight championship.
Those people got a bit of a taste of that matchup recently. Aspinall posted to social media on March 16, showing a recent run in he had with Jones at an event — their first face-to-face encounter.
Maybe one day? Full video tonight on my YouTube channel https://t.co/YolhO6m9M1 pic.twitter.com/H6mQ0FxAOR
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) March 16, 2024
Tom Aspinall says that Jon Jones was “nowhere near as big” as he thought and that he can take him #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/hAw1xRP6tr
— FightCrack (@FightCrack) March 16, 2024
"He's nowhere near as big as I thought," Aspinall said. "I thought he was a lot taller. But I guess when you fight at light heavyweight for your whole career, and you're 6'4", you look really tall. But I'm a full-blown heavyweight. There's no chance he's beating me.
"Size doesn't matter really. We're both massive guys. But I'll take him. I bet I'll beat him, definitely."
Jones gained the UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 285 in March 2023, scoring a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane to claim the then-vacant gold.
It was Jones' first fight in three years and opening appearance at heavyweight after dominating the UFC's light heavyweight division for most of the 2010s.
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