Tom Aspinall is set to return to the octagon to defend his interim heavyweight title against Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event of UFC 304. The No.1-ranked heavyweight recently expressed his belief that this matchup is a lose-lose situation for him. During an interview with Oscar Willis of The Mac Life, Aspinall elaborated on his perspective:
“There’s unfinished business there, evidently. Curtis is – I’ve said this all along. I said this before we last fought, which is over two years ago now. I believe that Curtis is the toughest matchup in the division for me stylistically. This is no disrespect to Curtis – it’s a bit of a lose-lose fight in the fact that he’s not that popular, is what I’m saying. He’s not that popular.”
Aspinall further explained that the ideal opponents are those who are both popular and present a favorable stylistic matchup. Blaydes, however, is neither popular nor an easy opponent, which makes the fight less appealing from a strategic and marketing perspective. Despite this, Aspinall is fully committed to preparing for the fight, acknowledging the challenge that Blaydes presents.
The two fighters previously faced off in the main event of UFC Fight Night 208, where Blaydes won by first-round TKO after Aspinall suffered a severe knee injury just 15 seconds into the fight. Aspinall tore his MCL and meniscus and also damaged his ACL in that bout.
In addition to his upcoming fight, Aspinall has voiced his frustrations about not securing an undisputed heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones. Instead, Jones is scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November. Aspinall discussed this on his YouTube channel, stating:
“Well, I’ve made it pretty clear that I want to fight Jones. I’m not going to go out my – I’m not going to start acting like someone that I’m not. Do you know what I mean? I spoke to Jon Jones online, I spoke to Jon Jones privately, I spoke to Jon Jones personally, publicly. There’s not a lot more that I can do. Jon Jones is playing games. He doesn’t want the fight.”
Aspinall emphasized that he will not resort to out-of-character behavior to gain attention or provoke Jones into a fight. The heavyweight title fight between Jones and Miocic was already planned before Aspinall captured the interim title. However, Jones had to delay the fight after tearing the tendon connecting his pectoral muscle to the bone. Both fighters, along with UFC president Dana White, have indicated that the bout will proceed once Jones recovers.
