Tom Aspinall’s demeanor protrudes calmness and composure, even in the light of danger within the Octagon. So when Jon Jones snubbed him off a title unification bout, and proceeded to insult the Englishman by suggest a fight other than a unification bout with him, something snapped within the Englishman. It’s bad enough Aspinall found himself in the awkward position of defending his interim belt, but being snubbed of a future bout is like rubbing salt on an open wound. Naturally, it was only fitting that ‘Honey Badger’ would bare his fangs, albeit in the most gentlemanly way possible. Keeping it respectful, the London native revealed what he actually thinks about the much awaited UFC 309 bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.

Tom Aspinall stated that he has nothing but respect for both Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic but believes that the title they’re fighting for cannot be called ‘undisputed’. On his YouTube channel, Aspinall stated, “Big heavyweight title fight this weekend. A bit of a strange one because, in all honesty, who is really that interested in this fight, being a title fight?” He further stated, “I mean, I have never said anything bad about Jon Jones’ career or Stipe’s career and I never will. I respect what they’ve done in their careers. What I got against this fight in particular is it’s contested for an undisputed heavyweight title. For me, and I’m seeing online for a lot of other people, this is far from undisputed.”

Normally, the interim champion is always looked at as the No.1 contender to fight for the undisputed title. However, the fact that the undisputed title is being contested in a bout without the interim champion, Tom Aspinall has problems with Jones calling himself the ‘undisputed’ champion – “This is the most disputed title you can possibly get because there’s two champions and one of the champions, Jon Jones, is avoiding the other champion, me.”

In what can be considered a ‘scathing’ attack for Aspinall’s standards, the Englishman dropped the final nail in the coffin –  “Let’s be honest, these are two old farts fighting each other for a title and occupying it, which is a bit weird.” On the other hand, while initially projecting negativity towards Tom Aspinall, calling him ‘annoying’ and someone ‘who hasn’t proved himself’, Jones changed his tune on the British fighter.

Jon Jones claims Tom Aspinall’s “head is in the right place”

Jon Jones had previously taken jibes at the Greater Manchester native, questioning Aspinall’s worthiness in fighting him. However, as we inch closer to what people believe to be his final fight, the 37-year-old praised Aspinall’s mentality of wanting to take on the best, and believes that the UFC interim champion has a ‘tremendous career’ ahead of him.

“Everyone wants to fight me. That’s just what it is. Tom’s head is in the right place. He should want to fight the top guys in the world. I believe that he has time to fight the top guys in the world. As far as fighting me right now I’m fighting Stipe right and you don’t make it this far in a UFC career looking past your opponents. I’m aware of Tom and the work he’s put in. I think he could have a tremendous future in the UFC,” Jon Jones told ‘ESPN MMA’.

It remains to be seen how things pan out in the aftermath of UFC 309. The question, now, remains whether we’ll get a title unification fight, between Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones, given that ‘Bones’ is looking to secure a fight against Alex Pereira next. Let us know what you think in the comments down below.