Tom Aspinall on Potential Jon Jones Fight: ‘I Think I Match Up Well’

Tom Aspinall put the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight division on notice Saturday.

In his first fight in a year, the Englishman blitzed Marcin Tybura for a 73-second technical knockout victory in the UFC Fight Night 224 headliner at the O2 Arena in London. Aspinall’s blend of skill and athleticism was on full display, and he appears to be a difficult matchup for most anyone in the weight class. That includes Jon Jones, who Aspinall hasn’t been shy about mentioning as a desired opponent.

“I think I match up well,” Aspinall said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It’s a dream fight of mine. I think I’m young and I’m fresh. I’ve not got loads of miles on the clock. I’m big. I can do everything well. I’m fast, I’m strong, I’m heavy, which is unlike a lot of his opponents who he’s fought in the past. I just think I bring something different to him, and I think he knows that, as well.”

Aspinall’s callout drew Jones’ attention, as the reigning heavyweight champion responded with a simple “sounds good” via Twitter. “Bones” is slated to defend his heavyweight crown against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November, and after that, he has hinted that retirement could be on the horizon.

“Jon Jones knows I exist. Woo-hoo! That’s a win in itself. I’m buzzing with that,” Aspinall said. “What I want to do, I’ve been saying it all week, is I want to win my fights going forward, of course, but also, another goal of mine is I want to motivate Jon Jones to stick around and fight me. Like, that is my absolute dream.”

However, Jones is not the ultimate goal for the Team Kaobon representative. His primary objective is to capture UFC gold, whether it’s held by Jones or someone else.

“It’s not my goal [to face Jon Jones]. I would love it to happen, [but] my goal is becoming heavyweight champion,” he said. “That’s my life goal right now. But Jon Jones would just be an extra bonus. If I could get that, that would be amazing.

“But if he retired, I wouldn’t be like, ‘Jon’s retired, oh, no.’ I’d be upset, obviously, but it wouldn’t bother me. I’ll fight the next guy who has the title, no problem.”