Tom Aspinall and his father are growing increasingly impatient regarding the ongoing wait for a potential fight against the undisputed heavyweight champion, Jon Jones.
Aspinall, who holds the interim UFC heavyweight title, has already had to defend his temporary belt. Meanwhile, he watched Jon Jones make his first defense of the undisputed championship against Stipe Miocic, an opponent who hadn`t competed in nearly four years prior to that bout.
Aspinall`s father recently voiced his considerable frustration in a video.
“It`s stupid,” Aspinall Sr. stated on his son`s YouTube channel. “I have no idea the reason why the UFC don’t really want Tom to fight anybody else other than Jon Jones.”
He recounted the situation: “`Stay tuned,` that’s the message they wanted Tom to give out to people. And we had the meeting with Hunter [Campbell, UFC Chief Business Officer], and they’re going to try and fix the fight with Jon Jones, but we’re still in April now, still for this guy to say, ‘I’ll have a fight’ or ‘I’ll not have a fight,’ and I don’t really understand that. He’s a fighter that should be having fights.”
He further questioned, “Why is he still sitting around, not giving an answer as to whether he’s going to fight or not?”
As Aspinall approaches almost a year without competing, UFC CEO Dana White continues to express confidence in eventually making the fight with Jones happen, though many within the mixed martial arts community are becoming less optimistic by the day.
With the highly anticipated clash against Jones floating as the primary goal, Aspinall`s team must navigate the challenging decisions regarding his next step.
Aspinall`s father elaborated on the dilemma: “What else can he do? He can fight lesser people than Jon Jones, lesser ranked people than Jon Jones, but that means he may miss the opportunity to fight Jon Jones — which is a massive opportunity because he’s the champion and he’s the best there’s ever been. If Tom beats him, that’s great.”
He continued, “What other choice does he got to sit around? He could fight the No. 8 ranked guy now, but why should No. 1 fight No. 8? It’s all a bit folly to me.”
Undeniably, competing for the undisputed heavyweight title against one of the sport`s all-time greats would be a monumental moment for Aspinall`s career and financial prospects. However, the prolonged waiting period continues to impact Aspinall`s earnings, especially considering he is currently in the prime of his fighting career.
“It’s just a massive pain in the ass, really,” Aspinall Sr. frankly stated. “It would be really nice, because he’s a fighter, to have a fight. He’s had three fights that’s lasted a minute a piece — the last three fights, and it is what it is, but we could do with more fights.”
He concluded by emphasizing the practical reality: “And this is living, and you need to be making money from your living, especially while you’re fit and healthy rather than just sitting on your ass and just turning up for training all the time.”
