As the interim champ, Aspinall is 100% within his right to only expect to fight Jon Jones next, and the only acceptable exception would be to accept Stipe Miocic because it would be a legacy fight. If the heavyweight division is clogged up, it is only due to Jon Jones not being willing to do the honorable thing which would be to vacate the belt with the guarantee of a title fight if he chooses to get back. It's ridiculous that Jon Jones doesnt accept this.

I must say he's a likeable lad. Good for him building up a genuine fan base.

Why tf does Tom have to wait for a year as an interim champ due to Jones's injury?? That's ridiculous. If Jones wanna fight Stipe next, he should vacate the title and UFC needs to make the Legacy belt(like BMF belt) for them.

Jon Jones already retired the evening Aspinall won the heavyweight title. That was the vacant Heavyweight title. Jon Jones said he was going to retire after Stipe and had nothing to prove beating Pavlovich or Aspinall. So, that was it and Aspinall just became the undisputed heavyweight champion. If he’s not the undisputed heavyweight champ, Jon has to prove that. He can’t just say it. We have one champ who said they were done and can’t be bothered to fight anyone who isn’t a 50 year old fire fighter. We have another champ who just easily defeated the scariest heavyweight and wants all the smoke from everyone. Everybody is like “Jon did amazing things 3 years ago in a completely different division, he’s the GOAT”. Okay lol. So… idk? 🤷‍♂️

This so called legacy fight between Jon and Stipe, doesn't even need a belt. I mean they will probably both retire after that and also it would sell anyway. I don't understand why they are holding the whole division slowing things down for everyone

On top of Tom's reasons for wanting to fight Jon and stipe, there is also not a good contender for Tom to fight. Pavlovich was the other guy. Underneath Tom is Gane who has already had 2 Title shots + an interim title and ducked Tom just months ago. Stipe is not a relevant HW, he hasn't fought since the Ngannou KO in 2021, he is 41 right now, the only reason he is ranked is to help promote his fight with Jones. Curtis Blaydes recently got knocked out by Pavlovich and Tom already beat Volkov. Almeida is coming off lay and praying Derrick Lewis... Can only hope Jon agrees to fight.

Dana always said that UFC is about best vs best and now he has turned heavyweight title into a memorial day. Nobody cares about Jones vs Stipe, Jones vs Aspinal is super fight

Big up Tom deserves all the credit and more and will go onto achieve great things and be a role model of a true martial artist

I’m jones fan but he isn’t the same person anymore. Age catches everyone. Tom aspinall is a beast for a heavyweight moves like lightweight and punches like a heavyweight. That is rare.

Toms the future 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

The heavyweight situation right now reminds me of when bisping was holding up the middleweight division and fighting GSP instead of fighting contenders like Whittaker or Romero who had to fight twice for an interim

Even I am getting fed up of hearing people ask Tom the same old questions so I can't imagine what he feels like lol

Tom's the champ. People can say what they want, Jones can say what he wants, but the real ones know. Tom took out the scariest guy in the sport and outside of a freak injury, he's ran through the heavyweight division. He's completely in the right to want to for the belt after winning the interim. All respect to Tom, he's a great fighter and humble guy

I don’t think Jon is scared of Tom. I think he’s scared of HW. It’s took him soo long to move up. He waited for Francis to leave to fight a fighter with a big weakness and then hogs a title to fight a retired fighter to then retire himself. Also look at DC. DC was in his prime at heavyweight but Jon would only fight in LHW.

No doubt the next big thing! Humble and he deserves everything coming his way aslong as he remains focused.

I remember him saying in an interview *something* along the lines of he's not bothered about England, glad to hear he's now saying he has the country behind him 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Tom is a unique fighter he's good at everything and brilliant at other things.... can't see anyone apart from a lucky punch besting him I really can't

Lovely how Tom explained that moment and with trump in background, he painted a picture for me so welll. Just imagine that experience only few will have.

Jones and Stipe are afraid of Aspinall

He really should fight blaydes to get his loss back and then the winner of that fights jones or stipe for the unified title, or becomes the unified champ if stipe or jones retires after winning against the other.

Tom shared in his instagram story that Pereira is coming up to heavyweight so I'm looking forward to that fight.

Give Tom the Stipe Miocic fight which is a fight Tom wants. That will keep him active and Stipe might not be the Stipe of old but he’ll definitely be Tom’s toughest test of his career. If Tom gets past that then a fight with the champ Jones can take place late 2024 depending on how fast Jon heals from his surgery.

I blame Francis. He broke the timeline 😅

Buen vídeo

To me he’s the real champ he beat a real #1 contender for the belt hasn’t been doing in HW for a while & after Jon beats Stipe he will retire which makes Tom undisputed💯

Without question, he earned that by stepping up on short notice and immediately slaying the boogieman of the division who was on a tear to the point where Jones didn't even speak his name because he was gagging to hide behind older, battle worn, imminent retirement Stipe. Give Aspinall the Stipe fight and winner fights Jones when he returns in 8 months (which will be 16 months since his last fight).

If this guy isnt related to Jimmy Hill I would be shocked

Jon wants stipe for the legacy. And then he can decide if he wants Tom after. Dana will give him preferential treatment like he did with Conor ie hold up the division. And to be fair Jon like Conor has earned it. Jon earns it through his resume and Conor for the money he was making for the company. Tom should fight Cyril in a battle of Uk v France at Wembley in the summer!

Anybody that says Jon jones isn’t scared of Tom, explain to me why he’s pushing to fight a 50 year old grandad and not the interim champion? Jon jones will lose so much respect from the real fans who want to see the best fight the best, only jones fan boys will praise him after the stipe win.

England doing well in heavyweight fighting atm for a tiny country

Heavyweight div now holds loadsa UFC all time records. Of 4060 UFC fighters Jailton is 1st for control time %, 1st top position % and 1st lowest absorbed strikes%. Tom A is 1st for shortest AVG fight time, 1st strike diff, 2nd bottom pos time, 4th knockdown p 15 mins, 3rd strikes p min, Overeem is 1st sig strike accuracy. Gane is 10th sig strike accuracy Arlovski is 2nd total fights, 2nd wins, 10th total fight time.Derek Lewis is 5th finishes and 1stko/tko. Jbj is 1st title fight wins, 1st takedown Def,

Jones and Miocic are done! Legacy and retirement fight for both, both of them are probably the only 2 who want to see it next year 🙃

Best bit about the whole night was when the camera went round all the big shots who were there, got to juliana pena and realised no one cares, moved to bisping and the whole crowd erupted 🤣🤣🤣

His next fight will def be gane. Unless Jones finally decides he needs to prove himself one more time. The problem is by the time he fights Stipe, and then decides to fight Tom. It will be like two years from now. Tom is not going to not fight for two years.

Aspinal should fight Stipe and then when jones heals up. fights the winner of them two. Not that hard tbh, Why should we be waiting for jones to heal up? what kinda bs is that.

UFC... Lo máximo!!

Go on Tom! Love he’s not staying quiet about the bullshit going on in the heavyweight division

I get it but it is not likely to happen.

I agreee with him

Imagine the scenes if Stipe comes back after 3 years off, at 41, beats Jones, and then beats Aspinall... AND THEN Ngannou comes back and he beats him too. No chance of it happening, but man, that would be unbelievable 😂 (For folk in the comments, I'm well aware it won't happen, I'm just saying it would be pretty incredible if it did, given how many people are completely dismissing his chances)

We NEED to see Tom vs Jon. Please!

UFC 300 Tom vs Stipe !!! Lets Gooooooo!!

The put a bag of money 💰 in front of him he can’t say no to defend interm v Gane

He's absolutely earned it

It’s not really an exclusive interview when he’s been on like 4 different podcasts since then and we all heard his opinions on the matter at least 5 times over

Will I go to the gym It's pissing rain outside although the gym is inside. Excuses

Hope Tom is smart & waits for that fight to take place, Jon’s is gonna retire then that makes him undisputed don’t risk it & defend a interm with no rightful #1 contender

He has the title of UFC champion in his resume, he oughta vacate and fight for it again he’ll definitely win again

Don’t forget, Jones has been defending his belt for 15 years-legendary! He’s ready to retire now. Stipe and him is penned a legacy fight. It’s sentimental for him. Come on! He has nothing to fear. I get it. Many are fascinated with the possible Jones Aspinal fight but everyone eventually retires. The Stipe fight will be a feather in his hat if he wins.

Them "coming up." Segments at the beginning are not needed. 😄

UFC 302 Manchester 👀👀👀

TNT video without Adam Cattarall 🎉

Lets have it right, Stipe is a retired fighter. The only thing that will get him back in the octagon is a Jon Jones pay day. The UFC have backed themselves into a corner and now dont know what to do with Aspinall. The silence speaks volumes.

Jiri had to vacate the belt when he got injured, it surely has to be the same rule for someone who’s only had one fight in their weight class ever? Can’t be one set of rules for Jon Jones and not for everyone else!

With Jon injured Stipe needs to fight Tom and the winner fight Jon or it just makes a farce of the interim and the division

Why is he crying for a Jones fight when hes tore his pec and is likely out for a while? Plus Tom is acting like hes popular enough to warrant the UFC stripping one of their biggest PPV Draws? Plus we have seen plenty of title holders hold the belt for well over a year without fighting. I like Tom a lot as a fighter but he needs to realise its a business and UFC making Stipe vs Jon is the best option business wise, regardless of what people on twitter say who frankly represent 1% of the people who actually buy the fights

give him Belal

Adam or Nick not doing this interview?

Champion

jones should fight him or vacate, interim has always fought the champion next and jones vs stipe is off so it should be jones vs aspinall

Can see Tom giving John his hardest fight but theres no way i would bet against Jones.

If I was Tom I wouldn’t be shouting for Manchester (as much as that mean to him) I’d be raising the stakes, keep calling for stipe but in the principality stadium Cardiff. Dana wanna talk about legacy well then let’s make legacy matching boxing in the uk by doing the best fighting stadium show the uk has ever seen.

I wonder if Tom will ever have to dig deep to win a fight for the rest of his career

Aight, here's the thing: Jon is never going to be called the greatest heavyweight fighter if he doesn't fight Tom, and we all know that. I don't understand why anyone is interested in seeing Jones fight an old, compromised stipe. Tom is the real deal, and it's time for Jon to actually fight "the next big thing" for the first time in his career. He not only possesses a real threat to him, but the general consensus is that he might sleep him. So while Jones recovers from his injury, Stipe fights Tom to pass the torch of the heavyweight division to Aspinal, and then they make the ultimate fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinal. PS: I know a lot of people are not going to like me saying the narrative Tom is going to be the one to beat him because we have seen this narrative countless times in Jones's career, but what can I say? Tom is that good.

Stipe should be next. Stipe wins, then it’s title vs title w Jones. He loses then he passed the torch. Force Jones’ hand.

So Tom is now just doing the exact same thing Stipe and Jon are doing. Soon the whole heavyweight division will redusere to fight, it's ridiculous.

Cereal Gainz Smokes aspinal

mate I can take all three of 'em when I see red

Yes Tom is good but look Jones is not at his prime,,he retire soon so he want a fighter who also retire soon.. stripe vs Jones is the only fight I want to see before I die

Tom vs Francis would be psycho

No one is beating Jon jones

Holding the interim title he has every right to only want the winner of that fight next that’s the whole point of an interim title look at Justin he’s not going to fight anyone other then Islam for the title no matter how long he has to wait

Yall dont get tired of hating on and rooting against Jon Jones? 😂 yall do this every fight just like they did with floyd.. every new challenger "uh oh hes in trouble now" "hes got a jab, he can wrestle, oh hes a black belt" it simply doesn't matter nobody can beat Jon jones

Really don't get the Jon stipe fight. Stipe will be 43 or 44 by the time Jon is back not fought for 3 years and that was a loss. My genuine take is this is just the UFC trying to distract still from francis leaving and they want it to look like francis was running from Jon and the ufc have the best fighters etc. They ca t afford for Jon to lose his next fight.

Make ufc 300 the biggest card ever

Tom is starting to know how to talk .

>dodged Tom Aspinall >Dodged Francis Ngannou Jones is trying to go through to the easy path in HW.

UFC protecting them both. The American fans telling Tom to get in line and have respect; which other fighter is shouting for the rooftops to fights JBJ when he doesn't have to? The UFC are handling this so so bad for the chance of one PPV between JBJ and Stipe.

Poor interviewing. Give it to Catterall or Peet.

Be reql surprised if stipe excepted that fight

jones doesnt want aspinall fight, faster, knocks people out faster than ngannou and has black belt bjj since he was a teenager

He needs to fight Curtis Blaydes again

Damn all fans are under 20 nowadays sad where the sport is going

He needs to keep calling out Stipe aggressively. Best way to get to Jones.

How about rematch Pav first, or are we saying he was all hype????? He was the guy that was gunna paste Tom, and starch Jones, but got slept...

Surprised jon went in so hard on tom, tom was asked his opinion n he gave it he has not dictated anything to dana, thats a lie imo n its hardly fair tom wins biggest fight of his career n then finds himself in this predicament, tom is bound to want what is best n good for himself n jon shouldnt hate on that imo, the same people being critical of tom would be circle jerking about russian bear power if ufc stripped jon n gave the title to pavlovich if hed won imo.

WagWarn Crimson Chin

Como

Tom should stop being so nice about it. Proclaim himself the REAL world chanp and destroy Jones and Stipe verbally, calling them has beens or something. Respect is good but it's not going to get him the fights he wants I know it's not his style but a bit of disrespect would go a long way.

I get Jon Jones but why Stipe? He hasn't fought in almost 3 years and he got destroyed vs Ngannou. Not even sure why Stipes still on the P4P list. McGregor is off the list and he fought more recently. Ciryl Gane is a much better fight. He lost to Jones but he looked great in his last fight and every other fight he's had. It'll be a good UK vs France match up. If Aspinall fights stipe over Gane it'll seem like a duck tbh.

Tom sed he gonna do a bisping an he did ha

So many meat riders of Jon , he is making the heavyweight division stale , let alone he has only had 1 heavyweight bout. As we all know UFC is about money nothing else

Sad UFC is going to shaft Tom in the end. Ofcourse speaking on the Jon Jones fight .

The UFC would rather make fans wait 10 years for a fight they don't want, Jones vs grandpa Stipe.

Fight Curtis blayde Why he don’t talk about that loss hah😅😂

He was called of the sofa and now he wants to calls the shots to Dana. Michael Bisping will ruin your career, don't listen to him. Yes Michael is the " Marketing Hall of Famer" for the British market. He is not a true Hall of Fame fighter.

Aspinal better stay busy , he is to new ti the ufc to start callibg shots. He is silly for certain

Lol Tom’s fans are really crying here. He’s the ‘Interim’ champ not the undisputed champ stop being salty 🧂😂

if thats the case then bro is gonna fight in 2025

Tom AspPinoche