"It would be epic" - Tom Aspinall names fight that 'makes most sense' for him in Jon Jones' absence
UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has shared his thoughts on potential opponents for his next walk to the octagon.
The British fighter recently sat down for a chat with Oscar Willis for TheMacLife. At one point in the interview, Aspinall weighed in on the names that could be next in line for him
On several occasions, the 30-year-old has expressed an interest in fighting Jon Jones. But considering that 'Bones' is currently injured, Aspinall shared that he would be open to fighting the winner of a potential clash between Jailton Almeida and Ciryl Gane.
Aspinall then added that he would like to lock horns with former champion Stipe Miocic next. The interim titleholder showered praise on Miocic, calling him 'the greatest heavyweight ever' and stated that he wants to share the octagon with him before the 41-year-old parts ways with the sport:
"Jon Jones is injured. What else is knocking around at the moment that makes sense?... Ciryl and Almeida should fight. I'll stick with that... Yeah, then I'll fight the winner. I believe they're both good fighters obviously but I think I'm more interested in Stipe right now... That would be epic. Stipe's one of my favorite fighters ever. I believe he's the best heavyweight ever and I wanna see what that feels like, stepping in the octagon with the best heavyweight ever and I want to experience that before I retire... but more importantly, before he retires which is in the not too distant future. So, it makes complete sense," said Tom Aspinall.
Check out his comments from the 2:40 mark below:
Michael Bisping names fighters that could pose a threat to Tom Aspinall
Tom Aspinall is currently on an incredible run in the UFC. The British heavyweight has won seven out of his eight encounters in the promotion. In his last UFC outing at UFC 295, Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich via first-round knockout to capture the interim title.
Former UFC champion Michael Bisping recently spoke about Aspinall in a YouTube video. 'The Count' shared that apart from Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, he can not see anyone giving the 30-year-old a tough challenge inside the octagon:
“[Outside of Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic], I genuinely don’t see anybody in the heavyweight division [giving Tom Aspinall] a problem anytime soon. He can knock anybody out, he can take anybody down, and he can probably submit all of them as well. He is literally the heavyweight Georges St-Pierre.”
Watch Michael Bisping's comments about Aspinall, starting at 4:30 below: