UFC legend Dominick Cruz makes firm prediction for Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall

While Jon Jones was away, Tom Aspinall stepped up to become the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

The English fighter made his first title defence against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in October.

After four minutes of back-and-forth striking action, Aspinall was poked in both of his eyes by Gane.

The foul resulted in their fight ending in a no-contest, but Dominick Cruz saw enough to say Jones would handle Aspinall if they ever fought.

“I’ll be honest, when I watched the film of Gane vs. Jon Jones, I thought Tom Aspinall would just throw a couple of strikes, power double, and take [Gane] down,” the former UFC bantamweight champion said on his Love & War podcast.

“But right here, you see the takedown defence from Gane. Not only did it improve, but I think we also see that Tom Aspinall might not be as high-level of a wrestler as we might have thought. He just faced guys that couldn’t really wrestle.”

Cruz is currently under suspension due to an altercation with Cody Garbrandt during UFC 306. The suspension could last until February unless he’s cleared by a physician before then.

Tom Aspinall set for eye surgery

Tom Aspinall has announced that he will be undergoing two separate procedures to address the damage to both of his eyes.

The 32-year-old heavyweight explained why the recovery process has been slower than expected.

“It’s been a bit of a long process,” said Aspinall.

“With other injuries, they just fix them straight away. With eyes, they try to let them — because it’s obviously risky — they try to let them heal naturally.”

He added: “So we’re getting surgery. Keeping me out for a little bit, not sure how long.”

The Manchester-born fighter said he was still in good spirits despite the delay, but admitted it had been difficult.

“It’s just been a slow process. It’s been a nightmare, to be honest.”