"Make your money and move on" - Tom Aspinall is content with not getting opportunity to fight Stipe Miocic and Jon Jones
UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall weighed in on not being able to fight either the champion Jon Jones or former two-time champ Stipe Miocic.
Both Jones and Miocic were scheduled to fight at UFC 295 but an injury to Jones forced him to withdraw. Aspinall took on Sergei Pavlovich on the same card and secured the interim title. The English fighter has since sought a title unification bout against Jones but to no avail.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Aspinall displayed a shift in perspective.
“If they offer me the fight with either of them, I’m taking it instantaneously. Let’s not get it twisted here, Ariel, I’m taking the fight. But none of them two are going to fight me, mate... And that’s okay. I’m at peace with it, if that’s not what they want to do. If they really feel like they’ve earned the right to not fight the interim champion... And their ego can rest on that, fair play to them. If they’re happy with loads of people saying that you need to fight Tom and they don’t fight me, fair play to him.”
Aspinall explained that he would never back down from someone challenging his throne but was not going to fault Jones or Miocic for having earned their keep and deciding otherwise.
“My ego couldn’t take that personally. Like my ego’s too big... What the king does when someone tries to take his throne is they defend the throne. They don’t nitpick and be like, oh I’m not going to defend against these guys. If someone challenges you mate and you’re the king, you’re defending and putting them back in the place and being like I’m the guy around here, this is my throne. So if Jon or Stipe’s ego can take that, like fair play, congratulations guys you’ve done enough. Make your money and move on.”
Check out Tom Aspinall's comments below (7:50):
Jon Jones refuses to rule out Tom Aspinall fight
Despite Jon Jones' refusal to entertain Tom Aspinall's callouts, 'Bones' mentioned in a recent interview that the matchup remains a possibility.
On his recent Australia tour, Jones said in an interview with Submission Radio that he felt a renewed energy and was considering his future in line with continuing his career contrary to reports of his retirement.
'Bones' said:
“But the Tom fight is definitely not off the table. Especially with how I’ve been feeling being out here. I feel just totally reinvigorated and just re-energized just being around all these fans. So, I can’t just walk away. So, the ball is rolling in a really positive direction for me to continue my career.”
Check out Jon Jones' full comments on Tom Aspinall below (3:25):