Tom Aspinall will be the backup for this fall’s undisputed heavyweight title scrap between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.
Thus far, the UFC has not officially confirmed when or even if Jones vs. Miocic is going to happen, but all signs point toward the long-awaited legacy clash going down at UFC 309 when the promotion makes its annual pit spot at Madison Square Garden on November 9.
Expected to face the winner, or whichever one who doesn’t immediately retire, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall revealed in a video on his YouTube channel that he has spoken to the UFC about being the official backup for ‘Bones’ vs. Miocic in case either one can’t make the walk come fight night.
“Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, New York City. As I said, this fight hasn’t been confirmed. But after my last fight against Curtis Blaydes there was some talk about me being the back-up fighter. The UFC spoke to me directly about that, I said, ‘I’m in!’ Somebody pulls out, I’m in. One day notice, ten day notice, ten weeks notice, one hour notice, I’ll be prepared for that date” (h/t Sportskeeda).
Tom Aspinall Happy to send Jon Jones into retirement, one way or another
Originally, Jones and Miocic were scheduled to fight at UFC 295 last year, but a pectoral injury forced ‘Bones’ out of the bout. That prompted the promotion to introduce an interim belt at the event. Aspinall captured the temporary title with a quick-fire finish of Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event.
He’s since become the first fighter in more than a decade to defend an interim title, dispatching Curtis Blaydes 60 seconds into their UFC 304 co-main event in Manchester.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee we’ll ever see Jones vs. Aspinall with ‘Bones’ continuously teasing retirement on social media. If Jones does decide to pack it in later this year, that’s perfectly fine with Aspinall. He’ll just go down as the fighter who retired Jon Jones without ever having to actually fight him.
“[Jones] was praying that I would lose that fight against Curtis Blaydes,” Aspinall said on the Believe You Me podcast with Michael Bisping. “Because there is nowhere that you can publicly find him saying he would fight me. It doesn’t exist… Since I won that fight, he’s gone completely quiet… I will retire Jon Jones without even fighting him.”
