This past week has been a highly significant one for Tom Aspinall even though the Brit hasn’t had to do anything.
Before the UFC’s International Fight Week could get underway, Dana White announced one of the biggest news updates in recent times.
Tributes flooded in following the confirmation of Jon Jones’ retirement, with the former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion calling time on a legendary career.
Now that he has been promoted to the undisputed champion, some believe that Aspinall will face Ciryl Gane next in a fight that has been spoken about for a long time.
While the news may have come out of nowhere during the UFC Baku post-fight press conference, Jones’ retirement both did and didn’t shock Aspinall.
Tom Aspinall claims he thought Jon Jones would retire during International Fight Week, which led to him being surprised
Just like the rest of the fans who weren’t awake during the post-fight press conference of UFC Baku, Tom Aspinall didn’t expect to wake up to the news that Jon Jones had retired.
He stated during an appearance on The Diary Of A CEO podcast that he expected ‘Bones’ to walk away rather than defending his heavyweight title, but he thought that the announcement would come several days later.
Aspinall, like many fans, had already come to the conclusion that this was the way Jones’ career was heading based on his social media comments and activity over the past few months.
The Brit also revealed that he had been told that Jones wasn’t living the life of a fighter who had any intentions on coming back, which only reflected what the consensus greatest of all time had been saying.
Ultimately, while he always expected to be promoted to undisputed champion without sharing the Octagon with Jones, Aspinall only had this confirmed when everyone else did.
“I only knew 100% actually last night. It was always like rumors of him retiring. He’s putting stuff out there in the media saying he’s retiring. MMA, especially at an elite level is quite, there’s not many people, you hear rumors a lot. So I heard rumors from people close to him that he’s going to retire and that he’s not living like an athlete who’s fighting at the top level anymore and that he’s not interested, not in the gym and etc.”
Tom Aspinall is excited to move on with the Jon Jones saga now behind him
Tom Aspinall has spoken several times over the past few months about how difficult the Jon Jones saga has been for him.
At 32 years old, he simply wanted to progress with his career but defending the interim title for a second time did not make sense, and Jon Jones showed little interest in fighting again.
During the podcast, Aspinall once again made it clear that while he would’ve liked the opportunity to face Jones because of the magnitude of the fight, he’s still achieved his main goal.
“What I really wanted was the undisputed title. That’s really what I was chasing the whole time. I was never really chasing one guy. Jon Jones was always just a bonus because of the resume that he’s got and the name that he has and the status that he holds within the sport. He’s so well respected that I think that would have been a great scalp for me to have.”