Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall remains high on self-belief when it comes to his chances in a fight against the great Jon Jones.
Jones maintained his place on the heavyweight throne at this past weekend’s UFC 309 pay-per-view, which he headlined inside Madison Square Garden opposite returning former champ Stipe Miocic.
“Bones,” who achieved two-division glory 20 months prior by submitting Ciryl Gane in one round, threatened another quick finish when he slammed Miocic down and employed some vicious ground-and-pound.
But the Rochester native ultimately had to wait until the third frame to put Miocic away for good, doing so with a brutal spinning back kick to the body. And with that, Jones has now added a successful defense to his already illustrious résumé.
Jones’ status as heavyweight king, however, is far from undisputed.
During Monday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned, Aspinall explained why he would expect an edge over Jones.
While “Bones” would boast a significant lead in Octagon experience, the interim titleholder believes his short fight time would actually play in his favor against the GOAT contender.
“One of Jon Jones’ biggest advantages that he has over everybody is that he’s a tape studier, as am I,” Aspinall said. “I’m a massive tape studier. I watch my opponents, my coaches watch my opponents, pick up on the tendencies, pick up on what they like, what they don’t like, what they’re good at, when they’re tired, what tires them out, how they’re getting up off the bottom, how’s their defense when you throw this shot, etc.
“He loves to study opponents like this. He has no chance of doing that with me because my average fight time is the shortest in UFC history at two minutes and two seconds over 10 fights. That’s something that keeps him up at night, that will keep him up at night, for sure. I am a massive, massive question mark for him. I know a lot of his game. He’s got a lot of Octagon time over a lot of years. I’ve got next to nothing. There’s next to no footage of me out there besides me doing anything apart from bouncing peoples’ heads off the canvas, and he has no idea what to prepare for, and that is fantastic for me.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Aspinall will have the chance to prove as much.
While Jones appeared to finally entertain the prospect of facing Aspinall during his Octagon interview, he quickly reverted to his stance of avoiding the Brit when backstage at MSG, reiterating his desire to fight Alex Pereira instead.
The MMA masses continue to push back on that, however, and even the UFC’s official Europe handle on X has seemingly had enough of the apparent ‘ducking’…
