Chael Sonnen fears what will happen to Tom Aspinall‘s interim title after Jon Jones steps foot in the octagon at UFC 309. For the unversed, the history of interim gold has almost always ended in infamy for the holder. Often relegated to a mere novelty, the belt has stained the tears and hard work of worthy contenders like ‘Big Nog’, who never got their shot at the ‘real belt’ and witnessed fighters like Brock Lesnar fighting for the undisputed gold instead.

While all eyes are on Jones since he is less than two weeks from that fateful clash, verbose UFC analyst and former superstar Chael Sonnen is more worried for Tom Aspinall on similar grounds. ‘Uncle Chael’ gave the prominent example of former interim welterweight champ, Colby Covington who was stripped of that title despite not losing it in a fight back in 2018.

“I don’t want to see Tom stripped by the way. But I didn’t love seeing Colby Covington get stripped. Colby Covington was the number one contender who couldn’t fight for the belt, who was an interim champion who never lost. Woke up one day and wasn’t the interim champion. Fought the reigning BMF champion and won and didn’t become the BMF champion,” he said on his YouTube channel.

‘Uncle Chael’ fears that since an interim title is only supposed to be a novelty as long as the ‘undisputed’ champion is out, Aspinall may be stripped as soon as Jones is officially back. Just as it happened to Covington. ‘Chaos’ was stripped because he pulled out of a unification bout against then ‘undisputed’ champion Tyron Woodley due to surgery. But despite this distinction, Sonnen feels Aspinall may be stripped, too.

“Tom defended an interim title that was interesting. I think it was the right thing to do. When I tell you we make up things as we go, well we make them up in an attempt to get them better in a very new sport. But it is really important that we either change the name of the interim title or we look up the definition, which by proxy would immediately vacate when the bell rings and you have the return of the undisputed champion,” he added. But Sonnen’s fear seems a bit misplaced.

Could Tom Aspinall be stripped of his interim title after UFC 309?

If Tom Aspinall was to indeed be stripped of his title, many feel there would have been some word from the UFC about it. While Sonnen is right that an interim championship is supposed to exist as long as the champion is out, this decision is up to the UFC and they can do whatever they want.

For example, as soon as the champion comes back, they are also supposed to fight the interim champ to unify the titles. After all, there cannot be two champions in a division. But still, the UFC is going ahead with a Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic bout despite there being an interim champ in the division.

On the other hand, even if the UFC did strip Aspinall, it wouldn’t matter. Anyone who follows the UFC even a little bit knows who the best active heavyweight in the division is. Plus, since Jones is retiring, the worst thing that could happen is that Aspinall will get to fight for the probably vacant undisputed title in his next fight, whether or not he holds the interim belt after UFC 309. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s concerns for Tom Aspinall’s interim title?