Tom Aspinall is ‘excited’ about the UFC’s return to the UK later this year and has begun shortlisting who his possible opponent could be as he looks to defend his interim heavyweight title.
Since winning the interim heavyweight title against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295, Tom Aspinall has been calling for a title unification bout against the undisputed champion, Jon Jones.
Jones was originally scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295, but after tearing his pec in training, the UFC decided to implement an interim title.
Despite being the interim champion, Aspinall has conceded the fact that he likely won’t get to fight Jones in a unification bout, and instead, will likely have to defend his interim title next.
With Dana White having recently announced the UFC will return to the UK later this year with a PPV event, Tom Aspinall has begun shortlisting who he may defend his title against.
The 30-year-old has a few options for the UK PPV return
Aspinall’s lone UFC loss came against Curtis Blaydes back in 2022 when he headlined his second UK event in a row.
The fight ended unceremoniously though after the 30-year-old went down injured 15 seconds into the fight, after tearing his MCL and ACL. Because that fight goes down as a loss on his record, despite being due to injury, Aspinall has said that he wants that fight back.
‘Razor’ Blaydes pulled off an upset win in his last fight at UFC 299, halting the streak of Brazilian contender, Jailton Almeida. After returning to the win column, the possibility of a rematch between Aspinall and the 33-year-old became highly likely.
Aspinall admitted on the MMA Hour that his top two choices would be Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, but with those fights not coming to fruition for him, he wants revenge over Blaydes.
Another heavyweight who returned to the win column in their last outing was Ciryl Gane. The Frenchman competed for the vacant heavyweight title against Jon Jones back at UFC 285 but was submitted in round one.
Tom Aspinall doesn’t like how Ciryl Gane ‘does business’
Following that, he headlined the UFC’s return to Paris in September, finishing Sergei Spivac in round two of their main event.
Tom Aspinall was in attendance for that fight – which came before his interim title win against Pavlovich – as he was hoping Gane would win and he would be his next opponent. Despite Aspinall’s desires, Gane shrugged off the potential of fighting Aspinall because he desired a fight against someone ahead of him in the rankings instead.
That is something Aspinall hasn’t forgotten.
Although the interim champion has admitted he respects Gane as a fighter, he doesn’t like the way he does business, stating that he isn’t the first fighter he’s ‘ducked’.
“He’s dismissed me on multiple occasions and I’m not the guy he’s dismissed, I’m not the first fighter he’s ducked. It’s out there for people to see. I got the Pavlovich fight because Ciryl didn’t want it, he ducked Pavlovich, and he then ducked Curtis Blaydes, Blaydes has been on record saying that.
“I asked for him years ago, he didn’t want it then, I then asked for him in Paris, they flew me over we tried to make that fight and he didn’t want it then. I just don’t like the way he does stuff professionally because it’s the opposite of what I do. I don’t like the way he does business.” Aspinall added.
Although the date for the UFC’s return to the UK hasn’t been officially announced, the rumors are that it’ll take place in the new Co-op Live arena in Manchester, at the end of July.
The heavyweight is currently in the United States where he will meet with the UFC to discuss options for his next fight.
Ciryl Gane issues response to Tom Aspinall
Since Tom Aspinall commented on how the Frenchman does business and his claims that he has ducked multiple heavyweights, ‘Bon Gamin’ has fired back.
“Tom I never, ever say no to any challenge or any opponent.” Gane said on X. “Blaydes was never an option. They said Pavlovich, I said yes. Don’t worry, I’ll see you in September, stop tripping.”
The promotion is scheduled to host their inaugural event at the Sphere in Las Vegas, with UFC 306 taking place on September 14th. The event is yet to have a main event announced, however, it is unlikely that Aspinall will defend his interim belt against Gane on that event.