Tom Aspinall has made his stance on this weekend’s UFC 309 main event very clear indeed.
The Briton, who has been the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion for a year now, has been waiting on the sidelines ever since for a shot at unifying the heavyweight titles — but will instead watch from cageside this weekend as Jon Jones defends his crown against the returning Stipe Miocic, four years after his most recent win in the cage.
The status of both Jones and Miocic after their fight this Saturday night in Madison Square Garden remains unclear. Both have been linked in the press to announcing their retirement soon after the bout, while Jones has also distanced himself from a unification bout with Aspinall — stating to the media in recent days that he views a possible ‘BMF’ fight with 205-pound champion Alex Pereira a more attractive option.
And speaking this week on his personal YouTube channel Aspinall, who is in the Big Apple this week to serve as the UFC 309 main event back-up fighter should his services be required, made clear exactly why he has problems with the Jones-Miocic booking.
“What I’ve got against his fight, in particular, is it’s contested for an undisputed heavyweight title, now for me, this is far from undisputed, this is the most disputed title that you could possibly get because there are two champions,” Aspinall said in the video, as noted by Bloody Elbow.
“Both guys have had a fantastic career, great legacy but let’s be honest, these are two old farts fighting each other for a title and occupying it which is a bit weird, nobody that I can see really gives a sh*t about this fight,” he added.
What’s more, Aspinall says he believes that there is some substance to the speculation that Jones is doing everything in his power to avoid a date in the Octagon with the Englishman.
“He likes to control the narrative of what fans think, I have never once come after Jon’s legacy,” Aspinall said. “Jon Jones ducked Francis Ngannou for three years, don’t be surprised that this guy always takes fights where he’s at an advantage.”
