Tom Aspinall has always been vocal about his intention to face Jon Jones in the octagon. The Briton repeatedly made remarks about it, only to continuously receive zero response from the heavyweight champ. With this, Aspinall suggested entering the boxing ring and staying active and healthy instead of waiting for Jones to fight him.
The British fighter made several attempts to call Jones’ attention to face him in the cage. Most recently, Aspinall called out the UFC for agreeing to let Jones keep the belt despite having to rest for months due to his injury. According to Aspinall, Jones has to leave his belt.
“I don’t see why he’s still got it. I don’t understand that. I think I should be the real champion right now,” stated Aspinall last week. “It’s hard to say without sounding rude, but who’s asked about Jon Jones and Stipe anymore? Why do we get this legacy fight, and they get to live by their own rules? What’s a legacy fight, a retirement fight for a title? I want to fight Stipe and then I want to fight Jon Jones. … I think all this other stuff is rubbish. Stop protecting him now. Stop protecting your boy Jon Jones at the top.”
Despite being still open to the possibility of fighting Jones, Aspinall suggested he wouldn’t wait forever for that to happen. In his recent interview with Fight Disciples, the interim heavyweight champion expressed his intention to stay active, suggesting his willingness to wear boxing gloves if needed.
“I want to be active. I’m healthy,” Aspinall said about boxing. “I’ll absolutely do that. If I can pass that with the UFC, I’ll do that. I think it’s a good idea. I like it – I like it a lot.
“If they want me to do it, I’ll do it. But I want to be active. I had a year off with the knee injury and stuff. I’ve come back. If I do say so myself, I’ve looked pretty good in my two since then. Everything’s been good. I’m in a really good spot right now. Let’s keep it going – keep it moving.”
In line with that, with the division still waiting for Jones’ return, the interim champion said he should be the one to fight Stipe Miocic, who was supposed to face Jones in their canceled bout.
“I don’t want to be waiting around for Jon Jones,” Aspinall said. “Who knows if he’s going to come back or not? He doesn’t know. Nobody knows. So let’s not hold the division up with that. Let me fight Stipe, or I’ll fight another contender, or if possible, we’ll do one of them (boxing). That’s a great idea.”
In case this plan is pushed through, Aspinall will not be the first MMA fighter to enter the boxing world. Francis Ngannou already made a mark in the said realm after having a huge success in his debut against Tyson Fury. It was followed by others like Nate Diaz and Tyron Woodley exploring the career, with Ilia Topuria planning to try it soon with Canelo Álvarez in case he wins against Alexander Volkanovski in their upcoming bout.
