Tom Aspinall claims he was ‘blacklisted’ from UFC 309 press conference

Tom Aspinall planned to make his presence felt at the UFC 309 press conference on Thursday, but he was told he couldn’t go.

The UFC’s interim heavyweight champion has been a big storyline added to the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic heavyweight championship main event this Saturday at Madison Square Garden. After a successful weigh-in as backup, Aspinall appeared on UFC 309 morning weigh-in show. Daniel Cormier told Aspinall he should have “asked to be at the press conference” and the interim champion corrected him.

“Wait, wait, I’ve got to drag you up there, DC, because I asked to be at the press conference,” Aspinall told Daniel Cormier. “I was told no. I tried to leave. I was blacklisted from the press conference.”

Jones was set to make his first heavyweight title defense against Miocic at UFC 295 a year ago, but an injury scratched him from the fight. Aspinall went on to face Sergei Pavlovich for the interim belt, which Aspinall won with a vicious first-round stoppage.

Since then, the majority of the MMA community has been clamoring for Jones vs. Aspinall in a unification match. Aspinall went on to defend his title, stopping Curtis Blaydes in the opening round at July’s UFC 304 event. Still, the UFC booked Jones vs. Miocic, despite constant head-scratching from fans and pundits alike. Jones has even said on several occasions that he is not interested in fighting Aspinall, he would prefer a money fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

Din Thomas asked Aspinall if he believed what many others do: Is Jones ducking a fight with him?

“Yes,” said Aspinall. “Yeah, he is. He definitely is. I think there’s just an easier path for him and I understand that. I totally understand that, understand that there are bigger fights out there for him with a lot less risk and way more money. I get it. But honestly, I think he’s ducking me.”

Much has been made of Jones’ fight week persona, particularly shutting Aspinall out at every turn. Aspinall seems confused by the whole thing because there was a much simpler way to go, but now wonders if there is a chance Jones is playing us all and will actually ask for a fight with Aspinall if he wins on Saturday evening.

“He could have had the easiest cop out ever and just said I’m just focusing on Stipe this week,” Aspinall said. “That’s what I would have done. That’s what I do every time, to be honest. That’s what most fighters do. We don’t want to talk about other fighters, we want to focus on the fight in front of us and it would have been the easiest thing for him to say this week is just, I’m not talking about Tom, I I’m focusing on Stipe and that’s it.

“But he hasn’t said that, which makes me think, is he just trolling everyone? I don’t know Jon. I don’t know him at all. But can he be that stupid and just say no in front of everyone? I don’t know . I think it might be a technique to push the fight down the line or something.”