Despite being told it is impossible, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall still wants to face Jon Jones. To justify his demand, the Briton stresses that MMA is far from boxing, saying there can only be one champ in the division.
Aspinall has always been clear about his intent to face the division champ by calling it his “dream fight” in the past. However, “Bones” is set to fight Stipe Miocic and is currently recovering from an injury. Aspinall proposed handling the older fighter and then have Jones in his return. However, UFC CEO Dana White is determined to push the bout between the two old fighters, noting both deserve the fight and wish to only face each other before Jones’ planned retirement. The executive also dismissed Aspinall’s demand for a title strip on Jones.
Needless to say, Aspinall is frustrated about these things but continues to make noise to push for the fight he wants. In his recent interview on the True Geordie podcast, the Briton reiterated his love for boxing but shared his dislike over its rules about the number of champions in a single division. Comparing the sport to MMA, the interim champ urged the UFC to do something about the heavyweight’s current state.
“I absolutely love the sport of MMA, UFC in particular,” Aspinall said. “I’m so proud to be fighting for the best MMA organization in the world. What that represents for me is the best fighting the best. And I’m a massive boxing fan. I absolutely love the sport of boxing, (but) I f*cking can’t stand the boxing model. There should not be five, six different world champions at one weight. … Let’s find out who the f*cking guy is. That’s what I want to find out. There’s two champions right now in the UFC heavyweight division. That’s not right.
“It’s very odd, and obviously, I don’t want to sit here slagging off my bosses, but it’s not right. There can’t be two f*cking heavyweight champions. It can’t be. This isn’t boxing. There’s one guy, one face, one name, and let’s find out who that is.”
In line with this, the fighter proclaimed himself as the rightful opponent of Jones, adding his next bout should be for the undisputed title.
“You can sugarcoat it all you want, these legacy fights and whatever,” said Aspinall. “My next fight has to be for the undisputed title. Why would they do otherwise? Let’s f*cking find out who the guy is; it’s as simple as that. All this legacy fight sh*t, I don’t understand how that can happen. Yeah, let them have a legacy fight, but why for the undisputed title? Why are you making the rest of us wait? I understand it’s Jon Jones. There’s no person walking this earth who is a bigger Jon Jones fan than me, but this isn’t boxing. This isn’t guys avoiding each other. This isn’t the No. 1 guy fighting the No. 10 guy. Let’s find out who the f*cking guy is because I believe it’s me.”
