Tom Aspinall has revealed who he is most likely to fight next and it isn’t Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic.
Aspinall is the backup fighter for Jones vs Miocic, which headlines UFC 309 on November 17 in Madison Square Garden, New York.
Aspinall was crowned UFC heavyweight interim champion after his won over Sergei PavlovichGetty
The Salford man became the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion after knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in November 2023 at UFC 295.
He defended his interim status against Curtis Blaydes at UFC Manchester in July before Leon Edwards dropped his welterweight belt to Belal Muhammad.
“I’d like to fight this year, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen because of the logjam at the top with them two [Jones and Miocic],” Aspinall said, speaking to CasinoHawks.
“So I think we’re probably looking at early next year, hopefully. Realistically, it should be the winner of Jon and Stipe, but I think they’ll retire, so I think it’s more likely to be the winner of Cyril Gane and [Alexander] Volkov.
“That seems like the logical perspective, but whether that happens or not, I don’t know.”
No.2 ranked heavyweight Gane is set to meet No.3 ranked Volkov at UFC 310 in Las Vegas, which also sees Muhammad defend his welterweight belt for the first time against Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Aspinall submitted Volkov two years ago in the opening round of his first UFC main event at the O2 Arena in London.
He has never fought Gane, who has been victorious over Volkov in the past too, but has lost both of his only title fights to Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou.
“I’m fit to fight right now to be honest. I could fight this weekend if I needed to.” Aspinall added.
“I’m always there or thereabouts. I only need a few weeks to get ready for a fight. I train twice a day regardless, so it’s just the intensity I need to increase.
Aspinall ran through Blaydes at UFC ManchesterGetty
Avenging the only loss of his UFC career in the pair’s first boutGetty
“I’m not one of these guys who gets fat or goes to parties between fights. I’m ready to fight most of the time.”
Aspinal has won seven of his nine UFC bouts inside the first round and holds the record for the shortest average fight time out of any other fighter in Dana White’s promotion.
On his UFC debut in July 2020, it only took the 31-year-old 45 seconds to knock out American Jake Collier.
He holds a record of 15 wins and three losses in professional MMA with his only defeat in the UFC coming to Blaydes in the pair’s first bout.
That heavyweight showdown was tipped to be one of the biggest in recent years, but Aspinall tore his medial collateral ligament (MCL) just 15 seconds into the bout.
The 31-year-old holds the record for the shortest average fight time in the UFC and is one of MMA’s deadliest strikers.
Aspinall predicts Jones will beat Miocic when the heavyweight giants meet next month.
One of the UFC’s greatest Jones takes on veteran Miocic at UFC 309GETTY
He said: “I don’t know if it’s anything tactical; I just think he’s younger and fresher than Stipe.
“Stipe is around 43 years old and hasn’t fought in like four years. He got knocked out in his last fight and wasn’t looking very good in it, and that was years ago now.
“Surely Stipe – unless he’s some kind of physical freak of nature – can’t start getting physically better in his forties after being knocked out a few times and having a million fights.
“Who knows? Maybe he’s going to surprise us all, but from a logical perspective, I don’t think it’s really possible to improve physically in your early forties.”
The UFC returns this Saturday as Ilia Topuria defends his featherweight title in Abu Dhabi against Max Holloway.
Jones vs Miocic takes place on November 17, with Michael Chandler challenging Charles Oliveira in the co-main event.
