Tom Aspinall is backing the underdog in the UFC 309 main event in Madison Square Garden next month.

Aspinall, the interim heavyweight champion, has long been campaigning for a shot at the formal championship currently held by Jon Jones who is set to defend his crown against Stipe Miocic inside Madison Square Garden on November 16th. And while Aspinall will be on hand in the Big Apple as the official backup fighter for the long-delayed heavyweight title fight, he says that the prohibitive underdog Miocic certainly shouldn’t be overlooked and he is backing the former champion to hand Jones the first true loss of his professional mixed martial arts career.

“I’d be looking for the knockout against Jon Jones is what I’d be looking for with him,” Aspinall said, in comments supplied to The Mac Life by SafestCasinoSites.

“I’d be trying to push him back and use his size,” he added. “It’s not even like he can use the experience. They’re both as experienced as one another, but I’d just be using my size on him, trying to push him back and knock him out. I think that Stipe Miocic has got big knockout power in comparison to Jon Jones. So I think he can knock him out.”

Aspinall’s next move in the sport will be wholly governed by the events inside MSG next month. He stands alone as the number one contender in the division — a move which he underscored by defeating Curtis Blaydes earlier this year in defence of his interim title — but amid rumours that one or both of Jones and Miocic will retire after the fight, Aspinall finds himself at something of a (temporary) crossroads.

And if he doesn’t get to fight Jones, Aspinall says that the American will leave the sport with asterisks next to his name.

“There’s always gonna be that guy though, isn’t there, who you didn’t fight and you retired because of?” he said.

“I think that he wouldn’t be the GOAT for other reasons. Failed drug tests etc, that’s just my opinion on it. My key to winning against, not just these guys, but anybody, is I need to punch them as hard as I can in the face. It’s well proven that if I hit somebody clean, they’re going over. I’ve never hit somebody clean in my life and they’ve not gone over. That’s my key to victory at all times.”