The next 12 months could be huge for the UFC's interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
After knocking out Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November to claim the title, Aspinall is now in line for a shot at undisputed champion Jon Jones.
However, this fight is showing no signs of materialising anytime soon. Jones was originally set to face Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 before a pectoral muscle injury to Jones saw the fight cancelled. With a prolonged recovery time, some would expect Aspinall to be facing Jones once he is fit to return, but it looks like the Jones vs. Miocic fight will still be going ahead.
This has resulted in Aspinall voicing his frustrations on social media and calling out Jones numerous times for what would be the biggest fight of his career.
Now time has passed, Aspinall is looking to stay active and progress his career in 2024, and has teased a possible return to the UK against a familiar face.
"I think that I'll have a rematch with Curtis Blaydes in the UK. I win that and then the UFC have no choice but to have me fight for the undisputed title, in that case I'd have to wait out to see what happens with Jones and Miocic," Aspinall told OLBG.
"But I'm a fighter and I just want to fight. I want big fights and I want the fights for all the glory. I feel like I've proved that to this point.
"I've been getting a lot of hate and pressure online from people just for saying that I want to fight the best guys in the world. That's what fighting and being the champion is about. The champion is the guy who beats all the other guys and I'm just trying to be that. I'm not being entitled or political or anything like that. I'm trying to be the guy who beats the other guys. I'm not trying to offend anyone or step on anyone's toes.
"He knows I'm trying to fight him and I'm not that guy who's going to keep crying about it. I've had a go, he doesn't want it, I'm not going to keep going for it. That's it. Hopefully the Blaydes fight, or the next fight with whoever that may be against will be enough to make Jon Jones stick around to fight me, and that's it, I can't really do anything else.”
If Aspinall and Blaydes were to meet in a rematch, it would be a revenge mission for Aspinall who lost the fight after his right knee gave way just fifteen seconds into their fight two years ago, which rendered him unable to continue and brought a sour end to a UFC event in London.
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