UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones might be avoiding Tom Aspinall like legal troubles but just like those pesky laws, the interim champion’s name always comes back to haunt him.
And this time it’s come from the mouth of former featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski who has claimed that the Brit is the only fighter who has what it takes to dethrone Jones.
‘The Great’ recently put out a video on his YouTube channel covering some of the most notable fights coming up at UFC 304. While breaking down the fight between Blaydes and Aspinall, he said that The former champion believes that Aspinall is as fast as Jones, if not faster. He also believes that Aspinall is a natural heavyweight which Jones has not experienced fighting yet which might be another problem for Jones to solve.
“Jon Jones, I want to see that fight. Jon Jones is that good that maybe he can handle a heavyweight Tom Aspinall. If anyone is ever going to beat Jon Jones, it’s someone like Tom Aspinall that can really mix it up. He is that good.”
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Unfortunately, any hopes of a Jones fight does not materialize if Aspinall does not secure the win this weekend.
A closer look at Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes
The fight between Aspinall and Blaydes is a rematch two years in the making. In their first fight, Aspinall suffered an unfortunate injury that forced the referee to call off the fight.
Since then, the Brit has secured devastating first round finishes against Sergei Pavlovich and Marcin Tybura.
Going into the fight, the British fighter gives up two-inches in reach for an inch in height advantage. But ‘Honey Badger’ is the better striker, landing 7.72 significant strikes per minute compared to 3.53 from Blaydes.
However, Blaydes has the upper hand in the wrestling department averaging 5.72 takedowns per 15 minutes. It is interesting to note that Tom Aspinall has a 100% takedown defence rate and therefore, Blaydes will have his work cut out for him. It will be interesting to see how walks away with a win and takes a step closer to challenging either Jones or Miocic.
