Following his first round destruction of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November, Tom Aspinall has been quite vocal that he should be next to fight Jon Jones for the undisputed title, not Stipe Miocic.
Originally scheduled to take place at UFC 295, Jones versus Miocic has been a constantly discussed matchup since Jones even mentioned moving up to the 265-pound division. The stars seemed to align following “Bones” making his heavyweight debut, and winning the vacant title with a first round submission of Ciryl Gane. Meanwhile, the former heavyweight titleholder in Miocic planned his return to the Octagon to face a fighter that is widely considered the best to ever compete.
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Unfortunately, Jones suffered an injury to his pectoral muscle in training, and he was forced to back out of the heavyweight super fight. The bout is still planned to occur in 2024 when Jones is able, but currently no date has been announced.
Aspinall capitalized on Jones’ injury and worked his way into the short notice bout with Pavlovich, which resulted in the Englishman being crowned the interim heavyweight champion. This now leaves Aspinall in a peculiar situation though, not only does he have to wait for Jones to come back from injury to get his shot at undisputed UFC gold, but he also needs to wait for him to fulfill the planned fight with Miocic.
Earlier this week, Aspinall took to social media to voice his displeasure in the waiting pattern that he has been presented with.
Surely if you’re interim champ, your next fight should be to fight for undisputed? Come on
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) January 4, 2024
Stipe is one of my favourites. Loads of respect to him his Résumé is far superior to mine rn. That being said the UFC has never been about this. It’s about who’s the best right now, and I believe that’s me and it’s only right I get to prove it #freeaspinall
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) January 4, 2024
Absolutely, Stipe has a great Resume and is a legend in his own right. So has Tony Furgeson. Maybe we should give him a shot at the undisputed title next too?
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) January 4, 2024