Jones vs. Miocic at UFC 309 isn’t even official yet, but Tom Aspinall is already back in the gym training to be the backup for their fight.
Tom Aspinall is serious about being the backup fighter for an expected Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic heavyweight title fight in November.
While the UFC hasn’t officially announced it yet, current plans have Jones defending the UFC heavyweight title against former two-time heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on November 16th. That would leave interim champion Aspinall waiting on the sidelines until the second quarter of 2025 for a chance to upgrade his belt to undisputed, so the Brit has decided to keep busy in the meantime.
“We’re back to [training] now,” he said in a new episode of Fight Lab on TNT Sports. “I just want my chance to fight for the undisputed title. Of course, that’s the next natural progression [from interim to undisputed]. And also, it’s a dream fight for me. So obviously I’m going to push for it.”
“We’re still waiting and still training with that in mind,” Aspinall continued. “As far as I am concerned, I am training to fight potentially in November, so no matter what happens, I’ll be fit and ready to go in November.”
Right now everything is in a holding pattern as Aspinall awaits the UFC’s announcement of Jones vs. Miocic at Madison Square Garden — which we expect to occur during this weekend’s Riyadh Season Noche UFC at the MSG-owned Sphere.
“No confirmation of the fight yet, no confirmation if I am the backup fighter yet – they did tell me that after my last fight,” he said. “The heavyweight title fight between Stipe and Jon Jones isn’t official yet so still waiting.”
And while he’s waiting, he’ll continue to bait Jon Jones.
“He wants the easy fight, Stipe, for now,” Aspinall said. “But I have the faith, I have the faith. And I think Jon’s getting a bit ticked off with me at the minute, which is my intention. I’m trying to test his ego to see if he could be like ‘Right, actually, I’m the man at heavyweight, I’m gonna show you.’ So that’s what I’m working on at the moment. It seems that Jon is getting a little bit fuming with me so it’ll be nice if he continues that.”
None of Aspinall’s callouts or comments has generated any response from Jones that implies the MMA GOAT will stick around and fight him, though. If anything, “Bones” seems to be digging in on NOT fighting Aspinall because he’s sick of fans talking about it.
Aspinall suspects all the chatter is Jones’ own attempt to kill time and have a little fun.
“He might be trolling everybody,” he suggested. “Who knows?”