Appearing to have made a complete one-eighty on claims overnight, Chael Sonnen asserts a new matchup is in the works for the UFC’s heavyweight division, once more involving the interim crown.
Just yesterday, Sonnen had boldly claimed overnight that a date had been agreed for a long-anticipated showdown between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, and managed to gain widespread traction with the report.
Notably, the UFC brass has remained rather tight-lipped on the subject, even as Jones has now broken Stipe Miocic’s 784-day record as the heavyweight champion, without ever unifying the title in a fight against the interim champion.
Initially targeted for a clash this summer, Jones is reportedly kicking the curb on a pairing, as he requests at least six months to prepare for a title unification pairing with his interim counterpart, Aspinall. Oregon veteran Sonnen claims the UFC is granting him exactly that. And as it so happens, Aspinall will have to pick up the slack again in his absence,
Yet to be confirmed, a pairing between Aspinall and former interim champion Ciryl Gane is now on deck for another interim title defense for the Brit.
“Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gane. Are you ready for the interim championship? According to a remarkably good source, Jon Jones is going to be afforded the ability to wait 180 days, which is equivalent to six months,” Sonnen said on his Instagram account.
“And now we’re going to defend an interim champion with the existence of an undisputed champion,” the disgruntled analyst added, noting that it “was against the laws of logic“.
Sonnen has long asserted that Aspinall’s interim title should have been nullified the second Jones returned to action at UFC 309 last year.
According to the veteran, Jones should be fighting Aspinall, but since that hasn’t happened yet, the promotion must recognize the undisputed champion as the only heavyweight monarch.
Interestingly, earlier yesterday, he had touched upon the subject of Jones ducking Aspinall and claimed that if it were the case, he would be the first to call the Rochester native out.
Aspinall, meanwhile, has held the interim title for more than 500 days at this point. So, if any calling out was to be done, ideally, ‘yesterday’ was the best time to do it. In the meantime, how does Gane feature into this scenario, especially since he has also been accused of ducking Aspinall in the past?
When Gane refused to fight Aspinall for Netflix deal
In the midst of a two-fight winning run, Gane had somehow managed to remain in title contention with a contentious win over Alexander Volkov at UFC 310 last year.
However, before that fight, Gane had been on a year-long break, during which time, he had been called out by Aspinall. Gane had refused to oblige, and the interim champion had gone on to defend his gold against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in London last year.
This had led to allegations of not wanting to take on Aspinall out of fear of losing, levelled against the former champion. However, his coach Fernand Lopez had clarified that it was only due to a prior commitment he had with Netflix.
“The first and the only time that the UFC ever offered Tom Aspinall was for July” Lopez said during an interview with MMA Junkie.
“Before that, people were messing up everything. Tom Aspinall is calling out Ciryl (Gane). When you call out someone, that doesn’t mean anything”, he added.
He also revealed that Gane had earlier challenged Aspinall for a fight at UFC 300, but the British champion had refused the call in hopes of a title unification fight.
“Tom Aspinall just said, ‘I don’t want you, I’m looking forward. I’m waiting for Jon Jones’, which makes sense. Because you only look forward and try to have more money, more challenge”, Lopez concluded.
Now, all this drama could very easily be solved if Jones would just buckle up and show up to work, like he has done twice in the last five years.
