Tom Aspinall’s championship tour is waiting to begin and he is chomping at the bits to take on the likes of Curtis Blaydes or Ciryl Gane. Sitting down in the studio with Ariel Helwani, the interim UFC Heavyweight Champ provided some answers on what’s next for the UK native.
Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes or Ciryl Gane?
Ahead of UFC 300, the British champion arrived in the United States for a quick press tour in New York City before getting over to Vegas. Speaking with Helwani, Aspinall detailed his response on why he feels his first title defense is meant for Curtis Blaydes. When given the option of who he prefers, Aspinall doubled down on Blaydes.
“We [Aspinall and Blaydes] were supposed to fight, we had a fight for 15 seconds, I injured my knee and he has a win over me.” Aspinall stated on Helwani’s show. The interim champ continued to define all his options. “Jon Jones is the guy I want to fight. But that’s not happening. Then we’ve got Stipe…That’s not happening. So the next guy I want to fight, Curtis Blaydes, because we’ve got some unfinished business…professionally, we’ve got a big problem here and I want to get that one back.”
Previous Meeting with Blaydes
Aspinall and Blaydes previously met as the main event back in 2022 on a London Fight Night. This bout infamously ended with Aspinall injuring his knee and taking a year layoff. On his return, the British heavyweight defeated Marcin Tybura by 1st round KO. Four months later, he was in short notice for the interim title at MSG where he knocked out surging Sergei Pavlovich in the 1st round.
Conversely, Blaydes has gone 1-1 since the 2022 fight with the now-current interim champion. Blaydes is recently coming off a 2nd round TKO win over the rising young contender Jailton Almeida at UFC 299. Since debuting in the UFC, “Razor” Blaydes amassed a 13-4-1 promotional record. The Heavyweight mainstay has defeated Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, Junior Dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik to his resume. The 4 losses on his UFC record come at the hands of former champ Francis Ngannou and two former title challengers, Pavlovich and Derrick Lewis. Yet, Blaydes has not fought for the title despite being a top star in the division since debuting in 2016.
Aspinall Skeptical of Gane’s Next-in-Line Claims
Despite outlining what he sees as his only 3 options, Aspinall has not ruled out a fight with Ciryl Gane. The interim champion cited that he would accept the fight with Gane if offered. However, he provided some doubts to why “Bon Gamin” deserves that fight to Helwani.
“He’s [Gane] dismissed me on multiple occasions, and I’m not the first guy that he’s dismissed…when I asked for him in Paris, they flew me over, we tried to make that fight.” Aspinall detailed to Helwani’s MMA Hour.
Aspinall admits to both personally liking Gane and Blaydes. However, he does not take this personal feelings into what is just a sport and profession to him. Gane has stacked an impressive 9-2 UFC record. Gane is a previous interim Heavyweight champion before falling to Francis Ngannou and then being submitted by Jon Jones at UFC 285 for the vacant title. Since the Jones loss, Gane has fought once at UFC Paris in 2023 where he KO’d Serghei Spivac in round 2.
Aspinall Back in England?
The interim UFC heavyweight champion is not only going to Vegas for the fights. Mentioning to Helwani, Aspinall referenced that he is looking to find out what fight is next for him this weekend. When probed by the host, Aspinall surmises that July’s UFC 304 is probably in the running for a return to England. While nothing is in writing or announced, a Manchester date has been heavily rumoured with the inclusion of two British champions, Aspinall and Leon Edwards.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
