Tom Aspinall has endured a nightmare yr ready to seek out out if he was truly going to combat Jon Jones or not however he lastly obtained some readability on Saturday when the now former UFC heavyweight champion introduced his retirement from the game.
As a lot as he needed to face Jones after successful and defending the interim heavyweight title, Aspinall made it clear on quite a few events that his major aim was staying lively and turning into an undisputed champion. Now with Jones out of the image, Aspinall has been promoted as the one heavyweight champion on the UFC roster and he’s able to get again to work with lofty aspirations in thoughts.
Whereas Aspinall says it was a “little bit of a difficult time” coping with the layoff and uncertainty, he’s excited for the longer term.
“I’m going to maintain this factor as lively as doable,” Aspinall said in a video posted to his YouTube channel on Sunday. “I need to be the very best heavyweight ever to stroll the face of the Earth. I’m going to defend this factor as many instances as I probably can.”
Aspinall already holds a outstanding 8-1 file within the UFC together with his lone loss coming after he suffered a severe knee damage in a combat in opposition to Curtis Blaydes. He finally avenged that defeat with a blistering 60-second knockout over Blaydes within the rematch this previous July.
In his eight wins within the UFC, Aspinall has solely gone previous the primary spherical one time and he clearly maintains an ideal 100-percent ending fee.
Whereas it’s been an extended wait to lastly turn out to be undisputed champion, Aspinall says he’s able to get busy with the Jones state of affairs resolved and he hopes to ebook his subsequent combat earlier than later.
“I’m going to maintain you guys entertained and I’m actually going to offer again to all people who has confirmed me assist over the past yr, over the past 5 years, over the past 10 years,” Aspinall mentioned. “I actually recognize the assist and love from all people. We’re going to see an lively, defending UFC heavyweight undisputed champion going ahead.”
On Sunday, UFC CEO Dana White revealed plans to fulfill with Aspinall in Las Vegas throughout Worldwide Combat Week to debate his subsequent matchup.
The main candidates for a possible title shot embrace Ciryl Gane and Jailton Almeida, however White didn’t speculate on any names simply but. He’s principally ready till sitting down with Aspinall to debate choices after which get his subsequent combat booked.
With the UFC schedule already set by way of August and no plans for a September pay-per-view, it’s doubtless that Aspinall couldn’t combat any sooner than October for his potential return to motion.
