Tom Aspinall, the interim heavyweight champion, is quite upset with the UFC and the former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. ‘The Silencer’ is often questioned about his inactivity in the UFC and was recently criticized for the same by Aspinall. ‘Honey Badger’, is actively aiming to unify the belt against Jon Jones. He believes that Miocic is the one coming in between signalling his potential rematch with Jones.
Miocic on the other hand recently took to platform X (FKA Twitter) to share his response to the arguments put forward by Aspinall. Miocic expressed that he was not the one behind the delay in the fight against Jon Jones. The fight between the two heavyweights was scheduled to take place at UFC 295. He wrote,
“I have never caused a delay in the Jon fight. Tom, once I get this win, let’s talk to unify the belt.”
I have never caused a delay in the Jon fight.⁰⁰Tom, once I get this win, let’s talk to unify the belt.
— Stipe Miocic (@stipemiocic) January 5, 2024
Aspinall recently shared his frustration with the promotion for not booking him against Jones to unify the titles. On the other hand, he also shared how the UFC might book Stipe Miocic against Jones despite Miocic’s long inactivity. The 41-year old in his tweet talked about unifying the heavyweight title after the Jon Jones fight.
The UFC 295 main event got cancelled due to Jones’ injury. The following bout holds the potential to take place shortly. However this has been quite an upsetting thing for Aspinall.
Is Jone Jones vs. Stipe Miocic happening any time soon?
After the cancellation of Jones vs. Miocic, the co-main bout was replaced with the matchup between Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall. Later, it was announced by the UFC president Dana White that the cancelled fight will be rebooked in 2024.
It is quite evident that the next opponent that Jon Jones can face inside the octagon will be Miocic. But it is important to note that the British fighter has been planning to land a chance against the current heavyweight champion Jones. But White has been quite clear about the upcoming potential matchups.
Dana White says the winner of Aspinall/Pavlovich will have to wait to face the winner of Jones/Miocic.
Asked what happens if Jones/Miocic retire after their bout:
To be the man you gotta beat the man so whoever wins that fight, it would be nice to see them stick around and… pic.twitter.com/df4bcS5fBr
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) October 26, 2023
During one of his interviews, he expressed that the winner of Aspinall vs. Pavlovich will be scheduled to face the winner of Jones vs. Miocic. With that in mind, Aspinall has to patiently wait for the bout between Miocic and Jones to take place to move ahead in his career.
