Tom Aspinall is ready to step in at UFC 309 if needed.
This past weekend, the UFC finally made official the worst kept secret in MMA: Jon Jones is set to defend his heavyweight title against former champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309, which takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The announcement has been a long time coming and Aspinall is excited the promotion finally made things official, and plans to be in attendance, either as a backup or as an interested observer.
“What else happened there was big Jon Jones, big Stipe Miocic matched up with one another,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “Finally, it’s official. Nov. 16, MSG, New York City. The heavyweight title is on the line at long last. Finally. We are confirmed for it.
“I, of course, will be there to watch these two gentlemen go at it. I, of course, have told the UFC if anybody gets injured or for any other reason why nobody can make it to that fight, why one of them might pull out, I’m ready to go. If I need to, I’ll fight both of them in the same night, no problem.”
Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to face each other at UFC 295, however, Jones withdrew from the bout due to injury and instead of rebooking Miocic, the promotion simply postponed the fight. Instead, Aspinall stepped in on short notice against planned backup fighter Sergei Pavlovich for an interim title fight, and won the belt with a 69-second knockout. In lieu of booking a title unification bout though, the UFC has forged ahead with the Jones vs. Miocic matchup and so in July, Aspinall defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, scoring a 60-second knockout.
It’s not often that an interim champion even defends his title and much rarer still that an interim champion is passed over for a fight with the undisputed champion. As a result, Aspinall has become increasingly frustrated the past few months with Jones and the UFC insisting on the Miocic fight.
But at least with that fight finally official now, Aspinall sees light at the end of the tunnel for his title journey.
“Give me my undisputed title, because in my opinion it should not be two champions in one weight division,” Aspinall said. “I think that is silly. This is not what the UFC is about, this is not what MMA is about. There’s one guy in each weight division, and I believe it’s me. So I’ll be fighting the winner.
“As I said, I’ll be there if they need me. I’ll be fit and ready. I’m training right now. I’m ready to go, I’ll be to go on the 16th of November if I need to. MSG, the place where I won the title. I’ll go back there and I’ll unify the title there as well if I need to.”
Unfortunately for Aspinall, he may not get his wish to fight the winner of the UFC 309 main event as over the weekend, Jones declared that his fight with Miocic is “more than likely” the final fight of his career.
