As the interim heavyweight title rematch between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes looms large, is this the division’s legitimate best matchup?
The co-main event of UFC 304 might not be the heavyweight title fight that MMA fans wanted, but it remains remarkably difficult to argue that the upcoming rematch doesn’t involve the two best heavyweights right now in the entire promotion.
In fact, there’s a case to be made that this bout against Curtis Blaydes is the single most dangerous fight that Tom Aspinall could take; even more so than undisputed king Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, as Aspinall himself explains.
Tom Aspinall argues Curtis Blaydes is a ‘tougher fight’ than Jones
Whilst UFC fans are expecting Jon Jones to defend his undisputed heavyweight title against former champion Stipe Miocic later this year in either November or December, that bout is still yet to be signed and announced by the promotion.
Whether it’s the fact that Jones and Miocic have a combined age of 78, or that they’ve had only two combined fights in the past four years, the vast majority of fans are seeing the UFC 304 co-main event as one and only ‘legitimate’ title fight.
Unsurprisingly, this includes both Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the UFC interim heavyweight champion explained how “I think this a tougher fight than Jon Jones, absolutely” for one key reason – his experience with fighting the biggest and most powerful athletes in the promotion.
“Because Curtis Blaydes is a well-established heavyweight and I’m not discrediting Jon at all, the guy’s unreal- well I might be discrediting him a bit- but as a heavyweight, Curtis Blaydes has proven multiple times that he’s elite.
“And he’s in his prime, Jon Jones isn’t. I think Blaydes is a tougher fight.”
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When asked who would win in a fight between the current version of Jones and the resurgent ‘Razor’, Aspinall first noted that it’s tricky to compare the two as Jones spent much of his fighting peak at light heavyweight.
Yet it didn’t take long for the British juggernaut to also lambast Jones for his physique when the two met earlier this year at the Arnold Sports Festival in Birmingham.
“See it’s quite hard to know where Jon Jones is at because I’ve only seen him once at the Expo, but he looked like he’d never seen a gym… He looked in awful shape, so is the Jon Jones that we knew 5-10 years ago, is he dead and gone?
“We don’t know, because he looked terrible when I saw him, granted he’s is coming off an injury so I don’t know how Jon Jones looks at heavyweight… We’ve seen him in one fight that lasted a minute-two minutes, so I don’t know how he looks [now].”
Curtis Blaydes says UFC 304 fight vs Aspinall is for the ‘real belt’
Whilst Aspinall is understandably getting most of the attention given UFC 304 is a homecoming event for the British superstar, it takes two to tango.
And Blaydes certainly isn’t too keen on rolling over for either Jones or Miocic, should he shock the world on July 27.
During the pre-fight media day, Blaydes would reaffirm his belief that the co-main event of UFC 304 is for the legitimate undisputed heavyweight title, and not a placeholder as we await Bones’ return.
“This is the real belt. This is the real belt in my mind, Jones versus Stipe is just their retirement fight… Not to be rude, but they’re both one or two fights away [from walking away].
“More than likely, this is their get-the-bag-get-out fight, which is fine. But that’s how I view it.”
Unsurprisingly, Blaydes isn’t a fan of Jones also retaining his spot near the top of the pound-for-pound rankings: “You’ve got to be active; this isn’t like a skill-based [title].
“This is an active [title and] he hasn’t been that active. You can’t be the best if you’re not active.”
UFC 304 goes down from Manchester, England, on Saturday, July 27.