TOM ASPINALL hopes to lay the ghost of Curtis Blaydes to rest once and for all before solidifying himself as the best heavyweight on the planet.
The Wigan warrior defends his interim title in the co-main event of UFC 304 in Manchester two years after suffering a freak knee injury in their first meeting.
Aspinall, 31, fell into a dark place after that fateful night at London’s O2 Arena and plans to close that chapter of his career with a brutal beatdown of the American.
He told SunSport: “I don’t like to say it’s personal because no fight for me is personal.
“I like Curtis as a person and we’ve actually spent a fair bit of time together and I actually really like him as a person.
“But professionally, there’s a massive issue there.
“And it needs to be resolved with me, frankly, beating him up. That’s the way it gets resolved.
“I’m not trying to disrespect Curtis or anything like that, I couldn’t have more respect for him on a personal level.
“But professionally, it needs to be resolved.
“If I could right that wrong before we move forward and unify the division, that would be ideal.”
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A unification fight against the winner of undisputed champ Jon Jones‘ November showdown with Stipe Miocic is within touching distance for Aspinall.
He’s anticipating a Jones victory and hopes a demolition job of Blaydes will convince the pound-for-pound great to shelve his retirement plans.
But he insists he’ll be content with his career if he doesn’t get to share the octagon with the Hall of Famer.
He said: “Ultimately, I want to be the heavyweight champion of the world It doesn’t really matter about Jon Jones.
“It’d be nice, it’d be a lovely cherry on the cake to have the scalp and get that experience.
“I’m a massive Jon Jones fan, first and foremost.
“It would just be awesome to experience that with Jon. But as Jon said, Jon said, ‘Don’t let me hold you back.’
“And when he said that, I thought, ‘You know what, he’s right.’
“I’m not letting Jon hold me back.
“He’s doing his thing, I’m doing my thing. If we cross paths, I’ll try my best to take him out.”
