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Tom Aspinall didn’t blink when the offer came to fight for an interim title on short notice after Jon Jones suffered an injury that prevented him from competing at UFC 295.
Jones, who claimed the vacant heavyweight title in March with a first-round submission win over Ciryl Gane, was forced to undergo surgery after tearing a pectoral muscle during his training camp. He’s not expected back until sometime deep into 2024 but he’ll still defend his title when he returns because the UFC didn’t force him to relinquish the belt in his absence.
While plenty of past champions held onto titles through extended time off, light heavyweights Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill both opted to give up the belt as they recovered from separate injuries. Jones didn’t do the same but Aspinall says he has no complaints about it.
“I’m just fine with the interim,” Aspinall said during UFC 295 media day. “I’m not too bothered about it. It will all work itself out, I’m sure. Jon Jones is obviously one of the best to ever do it. I would love to share the octagon with him one day. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. Absolutely love his game. Massive fan of his.
“As far as if it’s for the interim title or the vacant title, it doesn’t really bother me too much.”
When Jones returns, he’s expected to clash with former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, which was the original headliner for Saturday’s card at Madison Square Garden in New York.
There’s speculation that Jones could possibly retire if he gets through Miocic but Aspinall would love the opportunity to beat Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 and then face one of his heroes in the sport to unify the titles next year.
“I’d love to fight Jon Jones,” Aspinall said. “I’ve said that all along. It’s not disrespect to Jon Jones. I couldn’t respect him more for what he’s done in the sport. I’d like to fight Jon Jones after this for sure.”
Before he potentially gets Jones in the future, Aspinall first has to face Pavlovich on Saturday.
Taking the fight on short notice certainly wasn’t ideal but Aspinall knows he’s prepared, especially after the massive changes he’s experience following a devastating knee injury that led to his only loss in the UFC.
“Me pre-injury would have never took a fight like this,” Aspinall explained. “Absolutely never. I think that just says where I’m at mentally. I would have never, ever done this before I injured my knee. Because I was struggling with a bad knee for a long time. I train with heavyweights like everyday. Every single day for 18 months now so I know exactly where my body’s at. Before, I guess I was kind of guessing where my body was at a lot because I wasn’t training with heavyweights regular and now I train with heavyweights everyday.
“I know I’ve got the size and the strength and all the other stuff, the physical attributes to fight and I know when I’m ready to fight. Obviously, I wouldn’t have took this fight if I didn’t think I was close to being ready. I’m much more confident now moving forward.”
When it comes to his opponent, Aspinall knows Pavlovich presents problems for anybody but he’s obviously most dangerous when unleashing the fight-ending power that’s earned him six consecutive first-round knockouts.
Those blistering finishes have also provided Pavlovich with a certain amount of anonymity heading into a title fight because he hasn’t shown much outside of his ability to end a fight quickly. Aspinall understands that could be a problem but he expects to return the favor because there’s no way Pavlovich has seen anyone like him before either.
“I basically can’t find a weakness [in Sergei Pavlovich],” Aspinall said. “I don’t think anyone can look at his fights and be like ‘this is where he’s good and this is where he’s bad’ because he’s not really shown much bad at this point. I’ve just got to do my thing.
“The biggest advantage that I’ve got is he’s fought no one who moves anything like me because there’s not a guy in the heavyweight division who moves like me. So you can’t prepare for me. It’s really difficult for my training partners, who train with me everyday, to be able to figure out what I’m doing. Guys who have never experienced anything like my movement, that’s my biggest advantage that I’ve got.”
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