Tom Aspinall thinks UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones would have a hard time preparing for him.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was in attendance for Jones’ successful title defense against Stipe Miocic in Saturday’s UFC 309 headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York. Jones finished Miocic with a spinning back kick to the body in Round 3.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) prides himself on being great at studying tape and breaking down opponents, but based on Aspinall’s fight time in the octagon, the interim champ believes Jones won’t have much to look at – and that’s a clear disadvantage.
“He loves to study opponents like this. He has no chance of doing that with me because my average fight time is the shortest in UFC history at 2:02,” Aspinall said of Jones on “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Monday. “All 10 fights, and that’s something that keeps him up at night. That will keep him up at night for sure.
“I am a massive, massive question mark for him, and I know a lot of his game. He’s got a lot of octagon time over a lot of years, and I’ve got next to nothing, next to no footage of me, nothing of me out there apart from bouncing people’s heads off the canvas. He has no idea what to prepare for, and that is fantastic for me.”
Jones said he wants “f*ck you” money to fight Aspinall, and Aspinall doesn’t blame him. Despite Jones dismissing him on multiple occasions, Aspinall is confident the fight ends up happening.
“I’m a damn dangerous fight for him, the most dangerous of his career at this stage by far, and he knows it,” Aspinall said. “Of course he wants money. I think he secretly wants it because he has a gigantic ego, and he should have because he’s one of the best fighters ever. And he hates the fact that people are saying that I can beat him. He can’t sleep at night.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
