Paddy Pimblett is almost always going to pick fellow English fighters when it comes to cage fighting, but not when they’re going up against the legendary Jon Jones.
Right now, Pimblett’s fellow countryman, Tom Aspinall, is on the cusp of fighting Jones for the unified UFC heavyweight title. Aspinall is the interim champion, but some consider him the true heavyweight king as the rising English star is 8-1 in the division since arriving to UFC back in 2020. During that same span, Jones has made just two trips to the Octagon.
It’s been more difficult than expected to book the heavyweight clash between Aspinall and Jones, but fans are hopeful that it can eventually get done. That’s if UFC doesn’t move on from the matchup or fight fans don’t get enough signatures to get Jones stripped of his UFC belt.
Despite Jones being the consensus best fighter of all time, some people are picking Aspinall to get the job done and hand “Bones” his first loss ever. Others are siding with the G.O.A.T., which happens to include Pimblett. The rising lightweight contender believes that Aspinall has enough tools to be the one to defeat the champion, but he’ll never bet against Jones.
“I love Aspinall, lad. He’s my mate and all, but I can just never pick against Jon Jones,” said Pimblett during a recent interview in Liverpool (shown in the above video player). “We’ve never seen him get beat. I think now if anyone’s going to beat him it is Aspinall. Aspinall could just knock him out and come out with his hands and knock him clean out. I just never picked against Jon Jones. I’ve been watching Jon Jones since he became champ.
“It’s just the way he game plans. He finds a way to beat someone and he works on that exact thing. If anyone’s going to beat him it’s Aspinall.”
What do you think, Maniacs? Any issues with Pimblett publicly picking Jones over Aspinall?
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
