With Tom Aspinall desperate to secure his shot against Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier has insisted there’s one thing the Brit can do to leave the UFC with no choice but to make the fight.
Since picking up the interim championship, Aspinall has done his utmost to goad ‘Bones’ into a major unification collision. Alas, the American has shown little interest in making the potential contest a reality.
Daniel Cormier insists there’s a way Tom Aspinall can ‘force’ the UFC to make the Jon Jones fight
On July 27, Tom Aspinall will defend his interim title against Curtis Blaydes, at UFC 304 inside the Co-op Live in Manchester, UK.
Despite the bout taking place in the early hours of the morning, local time, to accommodate the massive American PPV audience, the card has generated enormous hype in Britain, with combat sports enthusiasts willing to stay up through the night to watch the powerhouse exhibit the lightning hands he’s renowned for.
The clash serves as an intriguing rematch, with Blaydes entering the cage with the bragging rights, having already claimed Aspinall’s scalp, albeit via a startling injury after his rival couldn’t continue after sustaining damage to his knee.
Thus, the fans are excited to see whether the interim title-holder, can overcome the adversity of the first fight and produce a performance worthy of goading Jon Jones into signing on the dotted line.
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Regardless, Daniel Cormier believes if Aspinall looks good enough, his old nemesis won’t have anywhere to hide.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, he explained: “Could you imagine if Tom Aspinall just washes out Curtis Blaydes?”
He continued: “Then the firestorm 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 lose to other guys’.
“But if Aspinall goes through Blaydes, in the way that he did Sergei Pavlovich, and he’s only lost because of that injury default, people would lose their minds.
“It would almost insist that he and Jones fight. If Tom Aspinall can get through this fight, and he’s clean and looks dominant, there may be such a fan uprising that the UFC may be forced to make Jones vs. Aspinall.”
However, if the Atherton-born athlete can’t get the heavyweight King in the cage, he’s more than open to welcoming the 205-pound champion to the division.
Tom Aspinall would love to fight Alex Pereira
At UFC 303, Alex Pereira made an enormous statement, rendering Jiri Prochazka unconscious with a thunderous head kick.
The brutal finish sent shockwaves through the sport, leaving many fans desperate to see ‘Poatan’ step up another division in a bid to become a three-weight world champion.
Should he do so, Aspinall will be waiting in the wings, with a willingness to show Pereira exactly what it’s like in the sport’s heaviest weight class.
When the Brazilian detonated his fearsome left hook on Jamahal Hill at the historic UFC 300 card, the Englishman was front and center, watching on as the American crashed towards the canvas.
But rather than sending shivers down his spine, the finish did nothing but motivate the Aspinall to want to fight Pereira himself.
Thus, in a recent interview, while the 31-year-old referred to the former Glory champion as ‘one of the best fighters in UFC history’, he re-emphasized just how much he’d love to tango with the pound-for-pound number #2.
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