Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall Meet Up: Three Indicators Signaling the Future of UFC’s Fiercest HW Clash

Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones finally caught up with each other in person. After months of back and forth on social media, the heavyweight duo seems to be on course for a heavyweight fight for the ages. The pair bumped into each other in Birmingham, UK, making people wonder if we are going to get a champion vs champion matchup for the undisputed title.

Jon Jones had to pull out from his UFC 295 fight against Stipe Miocic last year. This led to the UFC introducing the interim heavyweight title, which Tom Aspinall won at UFC 295. He has since then been asking to fight for the undisputed title. However, the promotion seems bent on making the GOAT vs. GOAT fight between Miocic and Jones. This has left Aspinall’s interim title merely a decoration, especially since it guarantees a title fight next, but the Brit does not want to sit around and wait for the winner of Miocic vs. Jones. The recent meet-up between Jones and Aspinall did not seem to make things favorable for the interim champion either.

Is Jon Jones playing mind games?

The meet-up with Jon Jones did not go the way Tom Aspinall expected. While they shook hands, ‘Bones’ removed the British fighter’s hand from his shoulder as soon as it found its way there. Nevertheless, things remained civilized. Tom Aspinall went on to apologize to Jon Jones for putting his hand on the heavyweight champion’s shoulder, claiming that he had no problems with him.

Aspinall has never failed to mention how much respect he has for Jones and his accomplishments. Hence, he tried everything he could when he met the undisputed champion to make things comfortable between the two. However, Jones did not appear to be too fond of the British fighter after he turned down a favor for Aspinall. Is Jones establishing authority while Aspinall continues to be more on the obsequious side?

There is a common lore among fans about how Jones went from fist-bumping opponents knuckle to knuckle before he was champion and switched to fist-bumping them from above their hands after he won the title. A minor detail, but is this Jones’ way of establishing his superiority over the other? Either way, he looked absolutely disinterested in setting up any sort of rivalry with Aspinall.

‘Bones’ is not in favor of fighting the interim champion

Tom Aspinall wanted to stage a faceoff with this divisional champion when he ran into him. But ‘Bones’ was not in favor of giving what the 30-year-old wanted. Instead, the two heavyweights posed for a picture facing the camera. This time too, Aspinall kept his cool and things remained cordial throughout the meet-up.

For many people, it seemed like Jones was not willing to fight Aspinall, given that the request for a face-off was a no-go for the undisputed champion. But what does that mean for the British fighter? Well, he is still a very confident lad as he shared his experience after meeting arguably the greatest of all time.

Tom Aspinall feeling confident about his win

The interim heavyweight champion shared his reaction after meeting Jon Jones for the first time, and he was surprised by ‘Bones’s stature. Tom Aspinall was expecting ‘Bones’ to be much bigger in person, but that wasn’t the case. He said, “He’s nowhere near as big as I thought. I thought he was a lot taller.”

When it comes to what he thinks about the outcome of a potential fight against Jones, Aspinall believes that even though both of them are massive individuals, he could take on the heavyweight champion with ease. “we’re both massive guys, but I’ll take that one. I think I beat him definitely,” said the interim champion.

Despite wanting to fight Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall is not going to eternally wait for that opportunity. Instead, he wants to remain as active as possible and recently responded to Curtis Blaydes‘ callout, and it seems that could be his next fight. We will have to wait and see how things pan out for the British champion in the months to come.

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