"Texted Hunter Campbell" - Tom Aspinall reveals how "close" he came to fighting Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic
Tom Aspinall was the backup fighter for the UFC 309 heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic and it seems the Englishman was on call till the very last moment.
Though Aspinall had been outspoken in his belief that neither of the pay-per-view headliners would face him in the event one of them pulled out, UFC was seemingly adamant on swapping in the interim champion if either of the main eventers were unfit to fight.
Naturally, the 31-year-old had to follow stringent procedures up until the main event kicked off. Speaking on the Post Show on how close he came to fighting at UFC 309, Aspinall said:
"So I texted Hunter Campbell, my dad texted Hunter Campbell actually and he's like, 'listen can Tom have a beer and he [Campbell] was like you can only have a beer when the main event walks out. So that's how close we were. I followed all this of course, I followed all this, but I've had a couple of beers [afterwards]."
Check out Tom Aspinall's comments below (0:22):
Unfortunately for the interim champion, it looks like 'Bones' is not keen on unifying the title with Aspinall even after his UFC 309 win. Jones has been quite vocal about his intentions to fight Alex Pereira next, even threatening to hang up his gloves if he doesn't get the fight.
Check out Jon Jones snub a potential fight against Tom Aspinall below:
Tom Aspinall doesn't want to be a backup fighter again
Tom Aspinall doesn't seem to have enjoyed his role as the backup fighter and does not intend to be in that position again. A heavyweight title unification is the only thing that interests him.
During the Post Show, the hard-hitting Brit elaborated on why serving as the back was a "very stressful" endeavor:
"I don't want to be a backup fighter again... It's like the closer the fight got, the more I'm like, 'Oh my god, what if I actually have to fight somebody, like in a couple of hours? Especially today I was like, what if somebody pulls out, what if somebody gets sick or rolls their angle or something.', I don't know, very stressful, very stressful to be honest."
However, after catching UFC 309 live, Aspinall believes he has found some deficiencies in the champion's overall game, which he could capitalize on if the fight ever comes to be.