When it comes to offering fighters fights, it doesn’t take much to convince Tom Aspinall to say yes.
Tom Aspinall thought his heavyweight saga involving Jon Jones had finally come to an end after months of uncertainty when UFC boss Dana White announced that Jones had officially retired from the sport a few weeks ago.
But despite Aspinall being upgraded to the undisputed champion, Jones revealed just a few weeks later that he has officially re-entered the drug testing pool as he looks to return on the White House mega event next year.
However, this past weekend following UFC 318, White revealed that he is unlikely to include Jones on the event as he can’t trust him, which leaves Aspinall’s inclusion on the event in doubt.
Aspinall on potential UFC fight against Francis Ngannou
Not long after White’s comments, Jones responded by stating his disappointment, but continued to claim that he will stay in the testing pool and work towards a comeback.
And having already waited for several months for ‘Bones’ to potentially return, Aspinall is no longer waiting around and has revealed that his first undisputed title defence is official.
Although it is unclear who the Brit will fight next, only Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov make immediate sense to fight for the title, with the heavyweight division left looking extremely shallow.
With that, talks continue to surface regarding a potential comeback to the promotion for former champion, Francis Ngannou.
When it was announced that Jones had retired, Ngannou sent Dana White a message, notifying him of his interest in re-signing with the UFC.
And even though White and Ngannou have a murky relationship, the UFC boss has never 100% ruled out a potential return for ‘The Predator’.
“I’m not sure on his circumstances, I don’t know if that’s (possible), I know that he didn’t have the best relationship with the UFC so I don’t know if that’s repairable,” Aspinall told UFC on Eurosport.
“I’ll fight anybody… I like it, I like the fight… It’s a fight I would definitely be interested in, I’m in,” he continued.
Francis Ngannou’s MMA return still in doubt
Since joining the PFL in 2023 following his exit from the UFC, Ngannou has only fought in the Smart Cage once, halting all of his momentum in the sport.
And despite having won their PFL Heavyweight Super Fight title, there aren’t particularly any heavyweights on the PFL roster that make sense for ‘The Predator’ to fight, leaving his MMA return in doubt.
Talks have taken place recently between Ngannou and Aspinall’s kickboxing teammate Rico Verhoeven for a mixed rules fight, however that is unlikely to happen at this point.