Jump To
Heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall put on an impressive performance in front of his home crowd at UFC London, knocking out Marcin Tybura just 73 seconds into the main event. Not only did the win made the Brit recover from his sole Octagon loss so far, but it also gave him enough confidence to publicly share his near-future plans and title aspirations.
Tom Aspinall vows to dethrone Jon Jones
In his post-fight interview, Aspinall was quick to reveal he intends to fly out to Paris, France to watch UFC on ESPN 53 in person and challenge the winner of the heayvweight main event between former interim champion Ciryl Gane and contender Sergey Spivak in a title eliminator. Afterwards, the Brit intends to make history by defeating champ Jon Jones.
“It’s been a really tough year for me. Guys, listen. I wasn’t myself last year. This is a whole new version of me. I’m not going to say I’m back because I’m different now. I’m just different than what I was last year. My mind is different. My body is different and I’m going all the way.”
“I’ll tell you exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to go to Paris.” Aspinall said when asked by his future plans. “I’m going to be sat front row for Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak. I’m going to beat the winner and then I’m going to beat Jon Jones.
Jones and Gane react to Aspinall’s interview
The confident way Aspinall shared his plans expectedly did not sit well with those involved in them. On Twitter, both Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane were quick to react to the Brit’s interview, in quite different ways. While ‘Bones’ was polite and seemed welcoming of the plans, the Frenchman was a bit more provocative and warned Aspinall to be careful what he wished for.
Heavyweight has no clear number 1 contender yet
The win over Tybura made Tom Aspinall (13-3) recover from his first ever UFC loss, when he lost via TKO due to injury only 15 seconds into his fight against Curtis Blaydes, in July of last year. Before that, the 30-year-old was on an impressive five-fight win streak in the Octagon, all finishes. During this time, the Brit scored wins over notable names in the division, such as Alexander Volkov, Sergey Spivak and former champion Andrei Arlovski.
Meanwhile, Jon Jones (27-1-1 NC) still doesn’t have a challenger to his heavyweight title after winning the title back in March, when he submitted Gane in the first round of their match at UFC 285. The 36-year-old is considered by many the greatest mixed martial arts of all-time, with 11 successful title defenses in the light heavyweight division.
During his reign, Jon Jones defeated all of the top light heavyweights of his generation, including former champions Mauricio Rua, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Quinton Jackson, Daniel Cormier and Glover Teixeira.
As for Ciryl Gane (11-2), the Frenchman will try to recover from his loss to Jon Jones when he meets Sergey Spivak in his home country of France in September. Before the loss, the 33-year-old scored a knockout win over Tai Tuivasa, in September of last year. The win came right after his only other professional loss, when he got knocked out by Francis Ngannou in January 2022.
Now, Gane is expected to face Spivak at UFC on ESPN 53’s main event, in Paris, France. The September 2 card is scheduled to be co-headlined by a women’s flyweight bout between former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas and rising conteder Manon Fiorot.
You know you can count on us for quick, consistent quality UFC coverage. Bloody Elbow is an independent, reader supported publication. Please subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with our best work and learn how you can support the site.
Join the new Bloody Elbow
Our Substack is where we feature the work of writers like Zach Arnold, John Nash and Karim Zidan. We’re fighting for the sport, the fighters and the fans. Please help us by subscribing today.
About the author
