UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has given the ‘perfect’ timeline for his return as he looks into the possibility of defending his interim title.
Tom Aspinall headlined the UFC’s last UK event, defeating Marcin Tybura in his return from injury. Before that, the promotion held a PPV event at the o2 in London, as Leon Edwards defended his title against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286.
Defending an interim title
Despite being the interim champion and technically the next in line to fight for the undisputed title, Aspinall isn’t keen on waiting for the result of Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic and is instead thinking of who he wants to defend his interim title against.
The interim champion did recently come face to face with the undisputed heavyweight champion, Jon Jones when they met at an event in the UK. Aspinall has been calling for that fight to happen for months, but the UFC’s adamancy of Jones fighting Miocic has meant it won’t happen, at least for now.
In a recent interview with TNT Sports, Dana White mentioned that if Aspinall wants a fight, he will give him a fight, instead of leaving him sat on the sidelines.
It is a very rare occurrence that an interim champion defends their interim belt in the UFC, and the last time it was done was 11 years ago when Renan Barao defended his interim bantamweight title twice in a year, beating Eddie Wineland and Michael McDonald.
Tom Aspinall wants revenge against Curtis Blaydes
The 30-year-old heavyweight suffered a devastating knee injury against Curtis Blaydes back in 2022, and although the fight ended due to the injury, it goes down as a loss on Aspinall’s record.
‘Razor’ Blaydes scored an upset win over Brazilian prospect, Jailton Almeida, at UFC 299 earlier this month, and after the fight, he called for a rematch with the interim champion.
Talking to OLBG, Aspinall admitted that the fight between him and Blaydes is ‘personal’ despite there being mutual respect between the two.
“Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic are tied up with each other and they’re not going to budge on that. Blaydes has said he wants to fight me and I’ve said ‘ok cool, let’s do it.’ That’s it, I’m just waiting for the call.
“I like Curtis Blaydes but professionally I want to beat him because he’s got a win over me when I got injured. I don’t know if the right word is ‘personal’ but it’s personal. Not in a way that I don’t like him as a person, it’s personal in a professional kind of way. I want to get that one back.” Aspinall explained.
Dana White’s UK return announcement could be perfect for Aspinall
Dana White announced today to TNT Sports, that the UFC are going to return to England with another numbered PPV event this year, whilst touching on the UK having two champions.
Although Tom Aspinall has admitted that the location ‘doesn’t really bother’ him, the timeline of the UFC’s return to the UK could work perfectly for Aspinall’s ‘ideal’ return date.
“The location doesn’t really bother me. I’d prefer it to be on this side of the world (UK) because it’s easier to prepare for. I’d like to be back in the summertime, that’s a decent timeline for a champion at the top of the division. We’re (heavyweights) a lot less active than the smaller guys, so six months between fights is ideal. That’s perfect.” Aspinall said.
Although the UFC’s return to the UK hasn’t been dated officially yet, Dana White said it’d be announced within days, with the rumors being that it’ll take place on July 20th or 27th.
It is still unclear whether they will have both Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall at the event, as Edwards’ fight with Belal Muhammad seems imminent.