Tom Aspinall has no problems with playing the hand he has been dealt.

The Briton, who will seek to defend his interim UFC heavyweight championship in a rematch with Curtis Blaydes in Manchester in July, has been vocal in his pursuit of a unification bout with Jon Jones; the champion who has spent just over two minutes in the Octagon as an active heavyweight in his career.

But Jones, temporarily out of action due to a pectoral injury, has long maintained that a previously scheduled bout with former champ Stipe Miocic will be his first port of call when he returns to competition.

Instead, Aspinall will fight Blaydes in a bout that could knock him off his pedestal at the summit of the division but he says that it is a risk worth taking, especially considering the somewhat risk-averse course he sees Jones as taking.

“Well [Blaydes] might [win],” Aspinall told The Mac Life this week. “It’s heavyweight MMA at the top level, someone always might win.

“I believe in myself, I think I’m good, I think I’m the best in the world, but does that make me invincible, no absolutely not. It’s heavyweight MMA, one shot off Curtis and the ref might be waking me up, that’s how it works, this is heavyweight MMA at the peak,” he said.

“Of course, there’s a chance that I could get knocked out, I’m fully aware of that. But I’m putting it on the line and quite frankly, [Jones] isn’t.”