Tom Aspinall aspires to be the reason Jon Jones avoids retirement after Stipe Miocic fight
Tom Aspinall returned to the octagon on Saturday headlining a UFC fight night in London against Polish powerhouse Marcin Tybura. Aspinall hadn't fought in a year, nursing a horrific knee injury suffered in his lone UFC loss against Curtis Blaydes.
The Englishman returned in style, knocking out Tybura within a little over a minute, in front of his home fans at the O2 Arena in London. In his post-fight octagon interview, Aspinall talked about eventually fighting Jon Jones, drawing a cryptic response from the champion.
For now, Tom Aspinall is happy to have made enough of a mark for Jones to know his name. The 30-year-old from Atherton, UK, also wants to be the reason for 'Bones' to continue fighting after his UFC 295 clash against Stipe Miocic. Aspinall said in the post-fight media scrum:
"Jon Jones knows I exist, woohoo. That's a win in itself. I'm buzzing with that. What I wanna do, I've been saying all week, is, I wanna win my fights going forward of course. But also, another goal of mine is like, I wanna motivate Jon Jones to stick around and fight me. Now that is my absolute dream mate. The thought that... guy from Atherton fighting Jon Jones mate. Oh my goodness me that would be incredible."
Catch Aspinall's comments below:
After a big victory at #UFCLondon, Tom Aspinall embraced a second win: acknowledgement from the champ.
"Jon Jones knows I exist. Woohoo! That's a win in itself." 🙌
Full interview: bit.ly/TAvsJBJ pic.twitter.com/YellzRoPy7
Tom Aspinall could be training Tyson Fury for boxing match against Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou has finally bagged himself a boxing super fight against Tyson Fury slated to go down on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tom Aspinall is backing his fellow countryman Fury in the fight and is also in talks with 'The Gypsy King' about training sessions.
Aspinall, like most fans and pundits, is skeptical of 'The Predator's' chances against Fury in a boxing clash. The 30-year-old said during the UFC London media day:
“Yeah, I spoke to him. He called me the other day and asked if I would help him to train and stuff. We’ll see how it goes, mate...I think Ngannou has a puncher’s chance, but it’s a very, very, very small puncher’s chance,” Aspinall said. “It’s a very slim chance. As someone who’s sparred Tyson a lot and seen Tyson up close sparring a lot and seeing him fight up close, I think that someone with the inexperience of someone like Francis Ngannou it’s going to be really tough."
Catch Tom Aspinall's comments below: