Written by Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Tom Aspinall planned to make his presence felt at the UFC 309 press conference on Thursday, but he was told he couldn’t go.
The UFC interim heavyweight champion has been a huge storyline added to the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic heavyweight championship main event this Saturday at Madison Square Garden. After successfully weighing in as the backup, Aspinall appeared on the UFC 309 Morning Weigh-In show. Daniel Cormier told Aspinall he should’ve “asked to be at the press conference,” and the interim champ corrected him.
“Wait, wait, I’ve got pull you up there, DC, a little bit because I asked to be at the press conference,” Aspinall told Daniel Cormier. “I was told no. I was trying to go. I got blacklisted from the press conference.”
Jones was slated to make his first heavyweight title defense against Miocic at UFC 295 a year ago, but an injury scratched him from the bout. Aspinall went on to face Sergei Pavlovich for the interim belt, which Aspinall won with a vicious first-round stoppage.
Since then, the majority of the MMA community has been clamoring for Jones vs. Aspinall in a unification bout. Aspinall did go on to defend his title, stopping Curtis Blaydes in the opening round at July’s UFC 304 event. Still, the UFC booked Jones vs. Miocic, despite constant head-scratching from fans and pundits alike. Jones has even said on multiple occasions that he’s not interested in fighting Aspinall, he’d prefer a money fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Din Thomas asked Aspinall if he believed what a lot of others do: Is Jones ducking a fight with him?
“Yes,” Aspinall said. “Yeah he is. He definitely is. I think that there is just an easier path for him, and I understand it. I do understand it completely, understand that there’s bigger fights out there for him with way less risk, and way more money. I understand it. But in all honesty, do I think he’s ducking me? Absolutely.”
A lot has been made about Jones’ fight week persona, most notably shutting Aspinall out at every turn. Aspinall seems confused by the whole thing because there was a much simpler path to take, but now wonders if there’s a chance that Jones is playing us all, and will in fact call for a fight with Aspinall if he’s victorious on Saturday night.
“He could’ve had the easiest cop out ever and just said I’m just focusing on Stipe this week,” Aspinall said. “That’s what I would’ve done. That’s what I do every time, to be honest. That’s what most fighters do. We don’t want to speak about other fighters, we want to focus on the fight in front of us, and that would’ve been the easiest thing for him to say this week is just, I’m not talking about Tom, I’m focused on Stipe and that’s it.
“But he hasn’t said that, which makes me think, is he just trolling everybody? I don’t know Jon. I don’t know him at all. But can he be that dumb and just flat out say no in front of everybody? I don’t know. I think it might be a technique to push the fight down the line or something. I have no idea.”