Tom Aspinall is about to change into a combating (interim) champion.
UFC 304 will mark the return of arguably Heavyweight’s best fighter on July 27, 2024. Sadly for the interim titleholder, Aspinall, he’ll be defending in opposition to perennial prime contender, Curtis Blaydes, slightly than unifying his belt with the undisputed champion, Jon Jones’.
As a substitute of combating the Brit, Jones’ beforehand scheduled legacy title combat in opposition to former two-time champion, Stipe Miocic, is predicted to get rebooked. Miocic, 41, believes the combat may occur across the identical time because it was presupposed to final 12 months in November. A lot of the group, together with UFC Bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, have been on the fence concerning the match up because it fell via and Aspinall grew to become the interim champion.
“It’s onerous to disclaim the exercise,” O’Malley stated on his TimboSugar Present. “Tom Aspinall, he’s in it. This sport is f—king simply … two, three years you don’t combat, you ain’t s—t. That’s simply the way it’s checked out.
“I don’t know why, I simply image Jon Jones smoking Stipe,” he concluded. “In my head, that’s simply all the time the way it begins and performs out.”
Relating to exercise ranges, Jones’ Heavyweight debut noticed him earn a primary spherical guillotine over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023 (watch highlights). The combat was solely Jones’ second of the last decade after beforehand incomes a unanimous choice in opposition to Dominick Reyes in his ultimate Mild Heavyweight title protection,
Miocic has additionally solely fought twice since 2019, going 1-1 together with his final combat leading to a second spherical knockout in opposition to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 in March 2021. Aspinall, however, joined UFC in 2020 and is 7-1 since then (14-3 total). His lone loss got here in 15 seconds in opposition to Blaydes when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in July 2022 (watch highlights).
