Tom Aspinall wants to defend title against Curtis Blaydes at rumored UFC PPV in Manchester this summer
Tom Aspinall has no intention of waiting around for a fight with Jon Jones that may never come.
This pas November, Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title with a 69 second win over Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295. Afterwards, Aspinall called for a title unification bout with Jon Jones when Jones returns from injury, but the heavyweight champion appears set on facing Stipe Miocic instead. But with the UFC rumored to be returning to Manchester, England this summer for a Pay-Per-View event, Aspinall says there is no chance he sits and waits out Jones instead of fighting in his hometown.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Just wait! You shouldn’t have to defend it.’ You really think I’m going to sit in Manchester and watch a show in my hometown and not fight?” Aspinall said on The MMA Hour. “Come on. Absolutely not. I have to fight somebody. ...
“I was off for a year with an injury, a potential career-ending injury. I don’t want my career to be over and I don’t want to sit on the sidelines waiting. I want to go and do my thing and prove I’m the best. I’m not a nitpicker. I’m not a guy that says let me just wait this one out. I’m a fighter. I want to fight people. That’s what I’m here to do. I believe I’m nowhere near my prime yet. My body is good, my mind is good, why should I not?”
While still not confirmed, it does appear that the UFC will head to Manchester in July for UFC 304. It would be the promotion’s first event in Manchester since UFC 204, when Michael Bisping defended the UFC middleweight title against Dan Henderson, avenging an earlier career loss. If he has his druthers, Aspinall will get the same chance this summer.
“Curtis Blaydes, of course,” Aspinall said when asked who his opponent would be. “We were supposed to fight, we had a fight for 15 seconds, I injured my knee, and he has a win over me. So of course I want that fight first.
“First of all, let’s not beat around the bush here, Jon Jones is the guy I want to fight. That’s not happening. Then we go Stipe, of course. He’s free. That’s not happening. So the next guy I want to fight is Curtis Blaydes because we have some unfinished business. It’s nothing against Curtis personally. I actually like Curtis. We spent some good time together. I met his dad, met his team, great people. Top of the food chain type people, my kind of people. Professionally, we’ve got a big problem here and I want to get that one back.”
As Aspinall noted, Blaydes is the only man to defeat the Englishman in the UFC, which Aspinall blew out his knee almost immediately in their fight in 2022. After that, Blaydes got knocked out by Sergei Pavlovich, but recently rebounded with his own knockout win over Jailton Almeida at UFC 299.
But Blaydes may not ultimately get the call to face Aspinall. Former interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane is still in the mix, and while Aspinall is open to the bout, it wouldn’t be his first choice.
“I’ll take him out then,” Aspinall said. “He’s dismissed me on multiple occasions, and I’m not the first guy that he’s dismissed. I’m not the first guy that he’s ducked. It’s out there for people to see. The reason that I got the Pavlovich fight is that Ciryl didn’t want it. He ducked Pavlovich. He then ducked Curtis Blaydes. ... I asked for him years ago, didn’t want it then. I then asked for him in Paris, they flew me over, we tried to make that fight, he didn’t want it. We’ll see what the UFC wants to do. ...
“I’m not discrediting his skills, and I’m also not discrediting him as a person. I like him. We spent some time together also. He’s a good guy. I just don’t like the way he does stuff professionally, because it’s the opposite of what I do. I’m here to fight people. I’m here to prove I’m the best, not duck out of fights with people. So if we have to fight, excellent. I’m here to fight people.”
UFC 304 is rumored to take place this July at the new Co-op Live arena, which is set to open this month.