It’s about time Tom Aspinall moves on from Jon Jones.
For almost 600 days, the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall has been waiting for his chance to prove he’s the best in the world.
Whether that’s with a title unification vs. Jon Jones or not remains to be seen.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Jones kept UFC fans guessing when he was recently asked about fighting Aspinall, saying he’s waiting on the UFC to make an official announcement.
As for Aspinall, the interim champion has declared himself the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, believing ‘Bones’ to be retired.
The wait for Jones vs. Aspinall continues to this day with some fans comparing Aspinall’s position to Michael Chandler’s in a fight against Conor McGregor that never happened.
Tom Aspinall says he’s not Michael Chandler ‘waiting for one fight’
UFC Lightweight Chandler waited two years for McGregor’s return at UFC 303 last summer, only for it to be canceled due to a broken toe injury for McGregor. A year later, Chandler doesn’t seem to have moved on from the idea of fighting ‘The Notorious’.
When it comes to Jones, Aspinall maintains he’s not waiting on anyone.
“I see a lot of people comparing me to Michael Chandler,” Aspinall continued.
“Michael Chandler waited for a long time for Conor McGregor and stuff like that. I’m not waiting for one fight. I’m not trying to fight one guy.
“I’m trying to fight all the guys,” Aspinall explained.
“I’m trying to be the guy at heavyweight who takes out everybody, and it doesn’t matter who it is. Ciryl Gane, [Alexander] Volkov rematch, [Jailton] Almeida, Derrick Lewis, Brock Lesnar, whoever it is. I don’t care.
“I wanna fight everybody, and I wanna fight as much as possible, get some excitement back in this division.”
Aspinall says he’s not looking to fight Jon Jones; he just wants a crack at the undisputed heavyweight title.
Petition to strip Jon Jones of UFC title nears 200,000 signatures
The UFC has yet to announce what’s next for the UFC heavyweight division and whether it will continue with Jon Jones.
Amid the uncertainty, many fans have joined together to take matters into their own hands.
Last week, a petition to strip Jones of the heavyweight title on Change.org reached 100,000 signatures. Days later, the petition trended to 150,000 signatures.
As of this writing, the petition, which has garnered support from Aspinall, is at 179,418 signatures—only 20,000 away from a 200,000 milestone.
Time will tell if anything comes from the petition as the MMA world awaits the UFC’s next decision regarding Jones and Aspinall.