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Tom Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich to become the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship earlier this month at UFC 295.
While his next fight hasn’t been announced at this time, Aspinall would like to step into the Octagon against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic.
“Stipe was ready to go two weeks ago when he was supposed to fight Jon Jones, who else am I gonna fight at this point?” Aspinall told The Mac Life (transcript via Drake Riggs of MMA Fighting). “Jon Jones is injured, what else is knocking around at the moment that makes sense? Ciryl [Gane] and [Jailton] Almeida should fight. I stick with that. I’ll fight the winner, but I believe they’re both good fighters, obviously, but I think I’m more interested in Stipe right now.”
Miocic was originally supposed to headline UFC 295 against UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, but Jones suffered an injury and both fighters were pulled from the card.
Aspinall does have a lot of respect for Miocic and he feels that a bout between the two would be an epic encounter.
“It would be epic,” Aspinall said. “Stipe is one of my favorite fighters ever. I believe he’s the best heavyweight ever and I want to see what it feels like stepping in the octagon with the best heavyweight ever and I want to experience that before I retire, which is gonna be ages away, but more importantly, before he retires which is in the not too distant future.
“It makes complete sense. I don’t know why anyone would dispute that. He’s free, I’m free, Jones is injured, I’ve got an interim title now, so why not? For Stipe, it’s an absolute must-win, isn’t it? If he gets knocked out, he’s getting knocked out against a young guy who’s already a champion. If he wins, it might [help] generate the hype between Jon and him.”
