If Tom Aspinall isn’t required in his role as backup to this month’s UFC 309 heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, he says that his impact will be felt in other ways.

Aspinall, the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion, will receive a degree of clarity to his future at the organisation’s annual trip to Madison Square Garden on November 16 when Jones and Miocic will meet to decide the formal heavyweight championship more than a year after Jones withdrew from the initially-scheduled fight in November 2023 after sustaining a pectoral injury in preparation.

Aspinall, of course, stepped in to fight Sergey Pavlovich on short notice, finishing the hard-hitting Russian early in the first round to claim the interim heavyweight title — which he would go on to defend this past summer against Curtis Blaydes in Manchester, England.

Since then, the Briton had actively campaigned to usurp Miocic in the Jones bout but the UFC resisted and stuck to their initial plans, with Aspinall in line to face the winner (provided that they don’t immediately retire, as rumours suggest).

But even if he doesn’t strap on the 4oz gloves in the Big Apple later this month, Aspinall says that he will gain some invaluable intel on the trip.

“What’s the plan? Turn up, do some media, cause a few scenes here and there, and try and make the winner stick around and fight me, hopefully,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel, as noted by MMA Fighting.

“I’m really interested how both guys look in the fight, that’s really interesting for me, up close,” he exaplined. “Especially up close because it’s a little bit different than on the TV. I want to go up close and see what these guys look like in live action, do you know what I mean?

“How are they moving? What are they doing? You can see little differences in real life than you can on the TV and I’m looking forward to that.”

UFC 309 takes place on November 16 inside Madison Square Garden.