“How dare he patronize me” - Tom Aspinall addresses Jon Jones’ ‘demeaning’ reaction to his UFC London callout
This past weekend saw Tom Aspinall make a triumphant return to the UFC following a year out with a severe knee injury.
The UK-based heavyweight needed little over a minute to dispatch tough veteran Marcin Tybura with a flurry of punches and looked to be in the best shape of his career.
Following the bout, it didn’t take long for a number of fans and observers to call for Tom Aspinall to face off with current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones in the near future.
Aspinall himself seemed highly interested in the fight too, stating after his win this weekend that he intends to beat the winner of the upcoming Ciryl Gane vs. Sergey Spivak fight before beating Jones.
However, the UK native didn’t take too kindly to Jones’ reply on Twitter, which was a little cryptic to say the least.
Sounds good lol
Tom Aspinall appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour show to discuss this, and had the following to say:
“I’m just putting it out there, Jon Jones is a patronising guy. I think he’s trying to patronize me. How dare he patronize me? How dare he? No, I dunno, whatever, but that’s the fight...that’s the dream fight, I’ll do whatever to get that.”
Later, Aspinall suggested that he could defeat ‘Bones’ in the octagon.
“Well, he’s fought a lot of quicker guys before..I don’t mean quicker than me, I mean quicker than most heavyweights, being a light-heavyweight obviously. But he’s never fought someone quicker than a light-heavyweight who’s bigger than him before. Who is super-confident, with big fight IQ, who’s not intimidated, who’s young, and fresh, not loads of miles on the clock, and brings something different, and that’s what I think I bring to the table against Jon. The prediction? Erm, I think I’m dangerous from everywhere, and I have to touch you once...he’s a human being. I have to hit him one time at speed, that he doesn’t see, and I’m capable of doing that...so to answer your question, I think I can knock him out.”
Watch Tom Aspinall discuss Jon Jones below.
Tom Aspinall on Jon Jones: I think he tried to patronize me.
#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/gJnNcNa6Qa
Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic: Could Tom Aspinall face the winner?
Jon Jones is all set to defend his UFC heavyweight title against former titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November. If ‘Bones’ wins, could he face Tom Aspinall in his next fight?
The UK-based heavyweight will probably have to defeat another opponent before a title shot – perhaps the winner of Ciryl Gane vs. Sergey Spivak, as he has suggested.
However, even if he does that, will Jones really be waiting for him? It’s a fair question to ask, especially after ‘Bones’ teased his retirement after his clash with Miocic earlier this year on Twitter.
How cool would it be to spend my retirement fight dominating the greatest heavyweight of all time, in my home state at Madison Square Garden?
However, Aspinall himself has clearly heard the same suggestions of retirement, and did claim this weekend that he wants to motivate Jones to stick around. Therefore, only time will tell whether this fight will happen.