Following Jon Jones’ emphatic third-round finish of Stipe Miocic this past Saturday in the UFC 309 main event, interim champion Tom Aspinall waited with bated breath for Jones to acknowledge him as his next challenge.
Despite being the sitting interim champion of the heavyweight division, Tom Aspinall had to watch this past Saturday as Jon Jones defended his undisputed title against Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event.
Earlier in the week, Aspinall labeled the title fight as ‘the most disputed title fight ever’, following the backlash it had received from the UFC fanbase.
Tom Aspinall teases ‘big news coming’ following a meeting with the UFC brass
The British heavyweight weighed in as the backup for the main event, however, he wasn’t needed when both ‘Bones’ and Miocic made it to the scale and subsequently to Fight Night.
With that, Aspinall took his seat on the front row and watched on as Jones successfully defended his heavyweight strap with an impressive third-round finish.
Throughout fight week, Jones had caused even more controversy when he continued to dismiss Aspinall as his next challenge, claiming he would either fight Alex Pereira or retire from the UFC.
However, in his Octagon interview with Joe Rogan, the 37-year-old champion revealed that he has opted against retirement, and eluded to potentially giving the fans what they want by unifying the title against Aspinall next.
Shortly after, the 31-year-old Brit made his way backstage where he went for a meeting with UFC CEO Dana White and Chief Business Officer, Hunter Campbell.
“I’m gonna bang this (post-fight press conference) out and I’ll come right out and talk to you guys, okay?” White told Aspinall before making his way into the post-fight presser.
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White then continued to tell the media in attendance that if the UFC 309 main event told him anything, it is that he is certainly not making a fight between Pereira and Jones, confirming that Aspinall has to be the next fight.
“Right, we’ve just finished off, it’s now 3:43 AM, just had a meeting with Dana and the other UFC brass, Hunter Campbell, and eh, all success and we’ll see you next time, big news coming!” Aspinall said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Jon Jones goes back on his word and continues to tease Aspinall fight
Even though the UFC and Aspinall are both on the same page regarding his next fight needing to be for the undisputed heavyweight title, Jones has continued to throw a spanner in the works.
In the post-fight press conference, the 37-year-old claimed that he will need to be paid a ‘f*ck you amount of money’ if he is going to consider fighting Aspinall.
“I’m not really worried about the Tom fight, I’m really worried about the Pereira fight. That’s what I wanna do and I think if the UFC wants to have me back, then that’s the fight they’ve got to make, that’s what I want.
“A very very high number (would need to be given for me to fight Aspinall), that’s for sure… I want to be compensated to the point where if I won or lost, it really wouldn’t matter,” Jones continued in the post-fight presser.
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