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Lineal champ Jon Jones has been sidelined since pulling out of a scheduled title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023. Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice title fight at UFC 295 and has since been calling for a unification bout against Jones. However, Jones remains adamant on returning to action against Miocic, who hasn’t fought in over three years. With both Jones and Miocic also teasing retirement after their planned bout, Blaydes doesn’t consider the potential matchup a legitimate title fight.
Blaydes has previously admitted that Aspinall should ideally have been fighting Jones in a title unifier instead of defending his interim strap. However, Blaydes considers his upcoming bout against “Honey Badger” the real title fight at heavyweight. For the perennially elite contender, the booking is reward of all the small decisions he made over the course of the last decade.
“The interim doesn’t mean anything to me,” Blaydes told Shakiel Mahjouri. “I do believe this is the real title fight. That’s how I’m approaching it. Just to get this opportunity just validates all my decisions over the past 11 years. Like me moving here out to Denver, moving away from Chicago and me joining Elevation [Fight Team]… It was a bunch of small decisions, and this is just a culmination of all that.”
While Blaydes doesn’t outright predict that Aspinall beats Jones in a potential fight, he certainly believes the Brit has the necessary skills to do so.
“I’m not gonna say a definitive yes, but I believe he has the tools,” Blaydes said. “When Jon fought OSP [Ovince St. Preux], I didn’t believe OSP has a shot. When Jon fought Anthony Smith, I like Anthony but I didn’t think he had the tools in order to beat Jon. When Jon [goes] in there with Tom or went in there with [Alexander Gustafsson], I believe that they have the tools in order to win.”
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