Tom Aspinall finally has his wish now that he’s booked to defend the undisputed heavyweight title.
Aspinall has claimed that he will remove Ciryl Gane from title contention following the Frenchman’s third shot at becoming undisputed.
While Jon Jones is still claiming to be the champion after his retirement, UFC 321 marks the point that the division can finally move on, even if ‘Bones’ will still loom large over the event.
After all of the talk surrounding a fight between him and Jones, there’s a lot of pressure on Aspinall ahead of his long-awaited return.
A UFC record holder believes that this fight isn’t just about getting the division back up and running, with the current champion needing to prove a point.
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Matt Brown believes that a Tom Aspinall loss at UFC 321 would be devastating for the heavyweight division
Speaking on the latest episode of MMA Fighting’s Fighter vs. Writer, UFC veteran Matt Brown spoke about the stakes for the UFC 321 main event.
He believes that there isn’t just pressure on Tom Aspinall to successfully defend the heavyweight title, he needs to do it in style.
Aspinall himself has admitted that the division isn’t very strong right now with little depth or rising stars making their way up the ranks.
Brown believes that if the Brit isn’t able to produce another impressive performance inside the Octagon, it will massively hurt his stock, and the entire division’s.
Aspinall appears to be the shining light in the division right now in terms of what its future looks like but if he’s beaten by Ciryl Gane on October 25, heavyweight is going to be left in a very difficult position.
“The heavyweight division is on the line. If Gane goes in and beats him — no disrespect to Gane, love the guy — the heavyweight division loses a lot of respect. Even if Tom goes out there, and it’s a close fight or he gets dropped and then has to come back or something like that, the heavyweight division has so little respect right now, probably deservedly so I think even with Gane getting his third title shot in a couple of years, Tom has to show he is the heavyweight division.
“He has to prove that to the world. The heavyweight division’s not just s—, but I’m so good that the heavyweight division is s—. This is the thing he has to go out there and prove to the world. If he goes out there and loses to Gane, the division already is not respected, that brings Tom down significantly I think.”
Matt Brown believes that Jon Jones will contribute to this additional pressure surrounding Tom Aspinall
Fans always knew that Jon Jones would pay close attention to Tom Aspinall’s next fight after everything that has been said about their potential matchup.
This is only even more true once Ciryl Gane was announced as the champion’s first challenger, considering that Jones steamrolled ‘Bon Gamin’ in just over two minutes when they faced each other at UFC 285.
Matt Brown said on Fighter vs. Writer that while matching Jones’ accomplishment is a big ask for Aspinall, he’s going to be judged by this measuring stick by his rival and some of the fanbase.
“It’s hard to beat a guy in two and a half minutes. A professional fighter, that’s not easy to do. If Jon fought him 10 times, he probably wouldn’t beat him that fast 10 times. That was one in those 10 times he beat him that fast. But now he did it, and he can say he did it. If Tom doesn’t match [that], ‘You suck Tom, You just fought somebody worse!’”