Tom Aspinall would have rather fought for the UFC heavyweight championship

When Jon Jones' retirement was made official, then-interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall was elevated to undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. While his goal all along was to become the champion, the 28 year-old would have rather fought for it. 

"To be honest, I would have rather fought for it, of course. I did defend the interim which is a weird thing as well," Aspinall told UFC.com. "I always saw myself as the champion anyway. I think the whole Jon Jones thing is a bit weird. Everybody can see that was a very strange situation, but luckily now that is in the past and we can move on."

"Obviously I had an inkling that Jon Jones was going to retire and they're going to move forward and I'm going to be the champion," continued Aspinall. "I would have rather fought for it. I would rather take the title from the champion, but I honestly believe that I was already a champion in may own right anyway... I'm just relieved that it's over and we can move forward." 

Aspinall was never chasing a fight with Jon Jones, although he would have loved to have a win over Jones on his resume. Aspinall was chasing the undisputed championship. 

"I was never actually chasing Jon. I was chasing the heavyweight title," Aspinall said. "Don't get me wrong, Jon Jones would have been an amazing scalp to have on record, but the opponent, the guy standing across from me never mattered. Never has mattered. Never will matter. What was important to me was being the best in the world. The other stuff is pretty irrelevant. Like I said, it would have been a great scalp that would have propelled me more than any other fight but a fight's a fight. I'm not too bothered." 

Now officially the undisputed heavyweight champion, Aspinall awaits his first title defense. He didn't provide the name of an opponent or a date other than to say, 'It's going to be soon.' If things work out, he'd like to fight twice before the end of the year.