Tom Aspinall sends message to Jon Jones after UFC 309: ‘This is the fight that needs to happen now’

If Tom Aspinall gets his wish, he will face Jon Jones next in the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history.

Although that matchup has been everything he has wanted since capturing the interim heavyweight title in November 2023, the British slugger has been forced to wait while Jones settles unfinished business with Stipe Miocic. On Saturday night at UFC 309, Jones did his part with a one-sided performance before finishing Miocic with a vicious spinning back kick to the body in the third round.

As soon as the fight was over, Aspinall immediately began considering a future sharing the same Octagon with Jones, and he believes the UFC has the same idea.

“Well, when Jon Jones gave his speech, I looked directly at the UFC brass, Dana (White) and Hunter (Campbell),” Aspinall said on the UFC 309 post-fight show. “They both turned to me at the same time and pointed at me and winked. At the same time. So to me that says something big is in the pipeline.

“This is the biggest fight in the UFC. This is massive. This is potentially one of the biggest fights in MMA right now. If that doesn’t interest Jon Jones, then I don’t know what else we can do. Everybody knows, That’s the fight that needs to happen. That’s the fight that the UFC wants. That’s the fight that needs to happen now. “

While Jones addressed the possibility of facing Aspinall, he also cited his compensation as the biggest obstacle to whether he returns for another fight or retires. With a nearly unblemished record across 16 years spent with the promotion and more title fight wins than anyone in UFC history, Jones’ legacy is cemented no matter what happens next.

For his part, Aspinall won’t take anything away from the body of work Jones amassed over his career, but he also knows they could do an awful lot of business together.

“I talked to the UFC brass a little bit, I want to talk to them a little bit more, and in my opinion I’m obviously a little bit biased, but I think it’s the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history,” Aspinall said. “That’s what people want to see.”

What he saw in the fight at UFC 309, Aspinall wasn’t surprised by how things went.

If anything, Aspinall was impressed with Jones’ ability to land the knockout. He also saw that Miocic appeared to be his age after not competing in nearly four years, with his last appearance in the UFC coming all the way back in 2021.

“It was, as you American guys say, by design,” Aspinall said. “It was exactly what I thought. It was exactly what I thought would happen. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if Jon could finish him. I thought it might be a five-rounder at that kind of pace .Jon takes him down, Jon keeps his reach, Jon goes backwards with him, Jon mixes the attacks between the head, the body, the legs, the spinning back kicks to the body, the wrestling, he does it all incredibly well.

“I think to beat Jon Jones, the main thing you need is good eyes. Good reactions, quick reactions. Could see everything and do everything and react really fast. Honestly, Stipe Miocic – and that’s said with a lot of respect – he just didn’t have that at 42.”

While Aspinall has been studying Jones in anticipation of a potential fight between them, he had never actually seen the reigning UFC heavyweight champion perform in person until Saturday night.

“I definitely see openings,” Aspinall said. “Whether I can do it or not, I don’t know. From the outside looking in, I think I can.”