Tom Aspinall has promised a return to activity for the heavyweight division, and he’s serious about that.
It’s been seven months since heavyweight champion Jon Jones last defended his title, and eleven months since interim champ Tom Aspinall defended his. Now that Jones is retired and Aspinall has been bumped up to undisputed champ, he wants to make up for lost time.
“I’m going to be fighting hopefully twice this year,” Aspinall said on Diary of a CEO. “That’s my plan, at least. I think I’ve wasted enough time. We’re looking to get a fight booked quick and it’s looking like it’s going to be pretty soon, anyway. And then hopefully, if everything goes well in the first one, I’m uninjured — which is easier said than done getting through a fight with a guy my size and coming out with no injuries.”
“But if I can do that, I would like to fight at the end of the year as well. That’d be perfect.”
There are reports that Aspinall is being considered for UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi at the end of October. That’s four months away, and about the speed we’re used to with today’s UFC. Realistically, we can’t see Tom fighting earlier than UFC 320 on October 4th. UFC 319 already has Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev booked, and UFC’s France card in September is a Fight Night and has Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho headlining.
The next issue is who Aspinall can fight now that Jones is gone.
“I’ve actually fought a lot of the top 10,” Aspinall said. “One of the guys I’ve not fought is Ciryl Gane, a French guy. I was actually chasing that fight a few times before. He was ducking and diving around himself a little bit. He is due a little bit of a beating off me. I look forward to that.”
“Couple more guys down the rankings: a Brazilian guy, Jailton Almeida, I’ve not fought,” he continued. “There’s a guy I’ve already beat called Alexander Volkov who’s doing really well for himself as well. So who knows? You never know in the heavyweight division. There’s a couple of up and coming guys who I’ve not mentioned as well.”
“There’s some good fights to be made over the next couple of years for sure.”
That’s not as exciting as Jon Jones or Francis Ngannou or Alex Pereira, but Tom Aspinall is stuck working with what he has. And if the UFC gets serious about keeping him busy, we’ll happily accept highlights of him beating contenders three times a year while the promotion (hopefully) works to build a division worthy of its champion around him.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
