Jon Jones may get his 'ego poked' by Tom Aspinall for 'selfish' reasons
Tom Aspinall has outlined a potential strategy he could utilize to bag a fight against reigning UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Aspinall's regarded as one of the most respectful fighters in MMA today. Besides, over the past few years, he's been touted by many as a future UFC heavyweight champion.
He started his UFC career with five impressive victories. Aspinall suffered his first UFC defeat via first-round TKO (knee injury) against Curtis Blaydes in July 2022. The UK MMA stalwart ended his year-long injury hiatus in July 2023, as he returned to face Marcin Tybura at UFC London. Their matchup witnessed Aspinall dominantly defeat Tybura via first-round TKO.
As reported by The Sun, Tom Aspinall has now indicated that he's willing to use a bit of trash talk to poke at Jon Jones' ego and generate buzz for a possible clash against 'Bones.'
While Aspinall seemingly acknowledged that the trash-talking strategy would be a tad out of character for him, he asserted that he's ready to be selfish to fulfill his dream of becoming the UFC heavyweight champion. Having recently exchanged jibes with Jones, Aspinall stated:
"I'm all right to poke at someone's ego. Like you say, I am a polite guy. But I want to get what I want... I don't want to be so polite where people overlook me. I want to beat the GOAT that's what I want to do... I want to be the UFC heavyweight champion of the world. And that's what I'm going to do at any cost."
"If that means I have to do certain stuff to get people's attention to put me in a place where other people are not, then I'm definitely gonna do that... I need to be selfish in this game because that's what's going to get me to where I want to be... Sometimes you have to hurt people's feelings to get to where you wanna be. And I'm all right doing that."
What's next for UFC heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall?
In the aftermath of his spectacular victory over Marcin Tybura last month, Tom Aspinall implied that he'd like to fight the winner of the upcoming Ciryl Gane vs. Sergey Spivak bout. The Gane-Spivak matchup will headline UFC Paris on September 2, 2023. Aspinall subsequently noted that he'd be open to fighting Sergei Pavlovich too.
Jon Jones is set to defend his UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 on November 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Dana White announced Friday. pic.twitter.com/4Pp8hKNEHI
Meanwhile, current UFC heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones is scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 on November 11, 2023. 'Bones' has hinted that he could retire after that fight. Regardless, Tom Aspinall continues to lobby for a fight against Jones.
As revealed by The Sun, Tom Aspinall emphasized that he'd love to either fight at the Jones-Miocic UFC 295 event or at least attend the event. The 30-year-old has consistently maintained that he aims to fight Jones. Moreover, Aspinall reiterated that, if need be, he's willing to engage in trash talk with the MMA great to secure a fight against him.