Daniel Cormier thinks a dominant performance by Tom Aspinall at UFC 304 could jeopardize Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.
Interim heavyweight champion Aspinall rematches Curtis Blaydes in the July 27 co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) in Manchester, England. Meanwhile, heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) is expected to make his first title defense against Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) at UFC 309 in Nov. 9 in New York.
But, if Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) can run right through Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) and avenge his lone octagon loss, which came by way of injury, Cormier thinks he can put a wrench in the promotion’s plans.
“Could you imagine if Tom Aspinall just washes out Curtis Blaydes?” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Then the firestorm that would start to gather for him to fight Jones. … For there to truly be an uprising, it would have to be Aspinall destroying Blaydes. Only because of this, you’ve seen Curtis Blaydes lose before, so people would think, ‘Oh, he beat Tom Aspinall, but we’ve seen him get beat by Francis (Ngannou) and we’ve seen him lose to other guys. He’s going to lose to Jones.’
“But if Aspinall goes through Blaydes in the way that he did Sergei (Pavlovich), and he’s only lost because of that injury, people would lose their minds almost insisting that he and Jones fight. If Tom Aspinall can get through this fight, and he’s clean and he looks dominant, there may be such a fan uprising that the UFC may have to be forced to make Jones vs. Aspinall. I don’t know what that would mean for my man Stipe, but it sounds like if it does happen, he’s OK with it.”
Aspinall, 31, has long desired to fight Jones, but recently told MMA Junkie that he doesn’t need “Bones” to define his legacy.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
