TOM ASPINALL isn’t afraid to step out of his comfort zone and “poke” at Jon Jones’ “ego” to land his dream heavyweight title fight.
The Atherton assassin returned to title contention earlier this month with a blowout victory over Marcin Tybura in his comeback fight at UFC London.
After a year-long injury layoff, Aspinall, 30, is now one win away from becoming only the fifth Brit to challenge for a belt in MMA‘s top promotion.
Jones would be the dream opponent for Aspinall’s crack at UFC gold, although the heavyweight king and consensus GOAT plans to retire after his upcoming title defence against Stipe Miocic in November.
But Aspinall – who got Jones’ attention with his post-fight interview – is willing to go down a different avenue to entice the Hall-of-Famer to stick around to fight him.
He said: “I’m all right to poke at someone’s ego. Like you say, I am a polite guy. But I want to get what I want.
“I don’t want to be so polite where people overlook me. I want to beat the GOAT that’s what I want to do.
“I want to be the UFC heavyweight champion of the world. And that’s what I’m going to do at any cost.”
His appearance wouldn’t initially suggest it, but Aspinall is the most soften-spoken and respectful fighter on the UFC roster.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu whizz is the ideal role model for aspiring mixed martial artists up and down the country but knows he may have to engage in some out-of-character trash talk to fulfil his dreams.
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He said: “If that means I have to do certain stuff to get people’s attention to put me in a place where other people are not, then I’m definitely gonna do that.
“I need to be selfish in this game because that’s what’s going to get me to where I want to be.
“Sometimes you have to hurt people’s feelings to get to where you wanna be. And I’m all right doing that.”
Aspinall hopes to bag a title shot by beating the victor of Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak’s Paris punch-up in September.
In a dream world, that fight would serve as support for Jones’ Madison Square Garden showdown with Miocic at UFC 295.
If that doesn’t come to fruition, Aspinall plans to travel to the Big Apple to try and entice Jones to hang around a little while longer.
“I’m going to be at the event regardless,” he said. “Whether I’m fighting or watching, I definitely want to be there.
“[And] to be that part of that fight week, what a build-up – what an event that will be.
“I really, really want to see that. Whether it’s up close or I’m gonna be fighting.
“Hopefully, I’m gonna be fighting on the same card because that timeline really works for me as well.
“I think it’s like four months away, so that’s absolutely ideal.
“That’s perfect for me.”
