Tom Aspinall has massive plans for the heavyweight division now that Jon Jones is out of the picture.
After nearly 600 days of waiting for a title unification bout with Jon Jones, interim titleholder Tom Aspinall can officially say he’s the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.
Largely considered as the greatest fighter ever, Jones retired from MMA on Saturday, relinquishing his heavyweight title after UFC boss Dana White insisted he did everything he could to make the fight with Aspinall happen.
The UFC heavyweight division has been at a standstill since Jones’ title reign began in 2023 and England’s Aspinall plans to change that, with big dreams of his own.
Tom Aspinall says he’s going to be ‘as active as possible’ on road to heavyweight GOAT status
Aspinall addressed his fans following Jones’ official retirement over the weekend.
“The news has broken. I’m sure everybody’s seen it. UFC undisputed heavyweight champion in the world,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel.
“It’s very important to me just that I acknowledge everybody quickly who has supported me in this, I’m not gonna say it was a tough time but a bit of a challenging time over like the last kind of ten, eleven months that I have been inactive due to no fault of my own.
“But luckily, that is all behind us now,” Aspinall continued, thanking his supporters.
“I’m gonna keep this thing as active as possible. I wanna be the best heavyweight ever to walk the face of the earth.
Aspinall is 8-1 in the UFC heavyweight division, having avenged his only loss to Curtis Blaydes by first-round TKO in a rare interim title defense at UFC 304 last summer.
All but one of Aspinall’s UFC fights have left the first round, with the British knockout artist more often than not coming out of his fights unscathed.
“I’m gonna defend this thing as many times as I possibly can,” Aspinall continued.
“I’m gonna keep you guys entertained now. I’m gonna really give back to everybody who has shown me support over the last year, over the last five years, over the last ten years.
“Really appreciate the support and love from everybody, and we’re gonna see an active defending UFC heavyweight undisputed champion going forward.”
Dana White: ‘I’m looking forward to the Tom Aspinall era’
UFC CEO Dana White is excited for what’s to come after the Jones-Aspinall saga.
While he may never get the chance to fight Jon Jones, Aspinall had planned to become the greatest heavyweight either way.
White commends Aspinall on being a model champion during his wait for Jones and talks his fighting future in the UFC.
“Tomorrow starts International Fight Week. Tom Aspinall will be there all next week,” White told Bloody Elbow and other outlets in a media scrum on Sunday.
“So, we’ll sit down with him, see what he’s thinking, what he wants to do.
“Literally, he’s been great through this whole thing and literally said, ‘I’ll fight whoever you guys tell me to fight, I’m ready to go.'”
“I’m looking forward to the Tom Aspinall era,” White added.