“He’s nowhere near as big as I thought,” Tom Aspinall first-time sizing up Jon Jones in real life gives interim champ confidence boost

Tom Aspinall is the interim heavyweight champion of the UFC.

“He’s nowhere near as big as I thought,” Tom Aspinall first-time sizing up Jon Jones in real life gives interim champ confidence boost

Tom Aspinall is confident in beating Jon Jones after sizing him up in recent meeting (via Instagram/Imago/X)

Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones was the calling of the town ever since the Englishman won the interim title. But, due to ‘Bones’ wanting a legacy fight with Stipe Miocic, Aspinall had to wait on the sidelines. This instigated a back-and-forth word battle between them on X. Now, the two heavyweight champions finally met face to face.

Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall met at the Arnold Sports Festival in Birmingham, England. They shared a brief moment for pictures and had a more or less cordial interaction. This meetup certainly allowed the potential rivals to size each other. As such, with his first impression of Jones, the interim champion looked confident in taking on Jones. 

He's nowhere near as big as I thought, I thought he was a lot taller. But, when you fight at light heavyweight your full career, you're 6'4" - you look really tall.
Tom Aspinall (via X-MMA Orbit)

Jon Jones has been competing at Light Heavyweight ever since he made his debut in the UFC. He is tall & held the record for the longest reach in the division and used it wisely to piece up his opponents. But, he arguably lost the physical edge when he made his move up to heavyweight. However, he won the heavyweight title at UFC 285 by defeating Ciryl Gane. As such, Aspinall who imaged Jones to be a physically imposing figure felt he was just a normal heavyweight.

This was Tom Aspinall‘s first time meeting Jones. The English champion has always shown the utmost respect for Jones’ accomplishments in the sport. However, since they were on a collision path, Aspinall made his point fair and clear about fighting him. Expectedly, they could face after Jones’ fight with Stipe Miocic.

What was Tom Aspinall’s initial reaction to meeting Jon Jones?

The heated conversations between Aspinall and Jones on X subsided when the two met face-to-face for the first time. They met at the Arnold Sports Festival in England and Aspinall requested a photo with the MMA legend. While Aspinall initially wanted to face off with Jones, the undisputed champion declined.

Tom Aspinall expresses his first impression about meeting Jon Jones
Tom Aspinall expresses his first impression about meeting Jon Jones (via New York Post/Sports Illustrated)

The interaction was friendly except for one tense moment when Aspinall placed his hand on Jones’ shoulder. He immediately apologized after Jones didn’t approve of it. Nonetheless, he asked for his chance to fight him, and the 36-year-old stated “maybe one day”. Later, Aspinall shared his thoughts about the whole incident with the cameraman.

Yeah, it was good, mate. All peaceful. I want to fight him, but I don’t want to fight him in an event. I want to have a UFC fight with him. I just asked him if he would give me the opportunity one day. He said he’s healing up good, so we’ll see. We’ll see what he does.

Tom Aspinall (via YT-Tom Aspinall)

Jon Jones is currently healing from a should injury he suffered in his UFC 295 training camp to fight Miocic. In the meantime, Aspinall captured the interim title and called for his shot at the undisputed title. But, Jones and the UFC persisted with the Miocic matchup, leaving the English champion with an unclear career path. As such, most probably Jones fights Miocic on his return and Aspinall would defend his interim title against a heavyweight contender.

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