UFC Heavyweight Tom Aspinall Explains Why He Can Dethrone Champion Jon Jones

Aspinall has his sights firmly set on UFC gold after a successful return at UFC London.

Tom Aspinall has made it clear that he intends to challenge Jon Jones for the UFC’s heavyweight title, and the 30-year-old believes he poses a unique challenge that “Bones” hasn't faced against any previous opponent.

The English heavyweight made his return to the Octagon for the first time since suffering a devastating knee injury against Curtis Blaydes when he met Marcin Tybura in London last weekend. 

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The crowd in the O2 Arena had been sent into stunned silence when Molly McCann was submitted in the night's co-main event, but Aspinall gave the London fans something to cheer about when he stopped Tybura in just over a minute to close out the card.

(Per Haljestam/USA TODAY Sports)

The 30-year-old got on the microphone after his win and indicated he wanted to face the winner of the UFC Paris main event between Ciryl Gane and Serghei Spivac before facing Jones, and during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour the top-ranked heavyweight detailed why he’s capable of defeating the all-time great.

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“Well, he’s fought a lot of quicker guys before. I don’t mean quicker than me, I mean quicker than most heavyweights – being a light heavyweight, obviously," Aspinall explained. "But he’s never fought someone quicker than a light heavyweight who’s bigger than him before. Who is super confident, with big fight IQ, who’s not intimidated. Who’s young and fresh, not loads of miles on the clock, and brings something different. And that’s what I think I bring to the table against Jon.”

The Englishman’s big return at UFC London put him right back into heavyweight title contention, although the #1-ranked Sergei Pavlovich currently looks to have the inside track on the division’s next title shot after UFC 295.

Pavlovich and Aspinall are both leading the charge as exciting young talents in the UFC’s heavyweight division, but both men will have to wait for their shot at Jones until after the former light heavyweight king defends his heavyweight title for the first time against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295.

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