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Following his UFC London victory over Marcin Tybura earlier this year, Tom Aspinall was clear about his plans in the heavyweight division. The Brit shared that he wanted to face the winner of the UFC Paris headliner between Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak.
'Bon Gamin', who won the bout, downplayed his interest in fighting down the rankings. Aspinall responded to his lack of interest by sharing that he would be willing to face Sergei Pavlovich. Speaking to TheMacLife, Aspinall was asked who he would face if Gane, Jon Jones, and Stipe Miocic were not on the table as opponents. He replied:
"Well, that only leaves one guy left, doesn't it? The big Russian fella who nobody wants and I'm happy to step up and take that. I'm more than happy to fight Sergei Pavlovich. I was supposed to fight him two times before. The fights didn't happen for whatever reason, and yeah, let's do it. Let's do it, man. I'm happy to fight anyone that gets me closer to the title."
Aspinall was then asked if he would like to face Pavlovich for the heavyweight title if Jon Jones retires, to which he answered:
"Wait, so Jon Jones retires? Me and Pavlovich fight each other for the title? That sounds ideal. Oh no, it doesn't actually. I want to fight Jon Jones really. That's f**king awesome."
Check out Tom Aspinall's comments on facing Sergei Pavlovich below (2:15):
Jon Jones recently praised Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich. However, he revealed that he is not interested in facing either fighter. He noted that both are relatively unknown to the casual fanbase, making it harder to sell the fight.
What did Ciryl Gane say about facing Tom Aspinall?
Tom Aspinall has been vocal about his path to the heavyweight title. However, he appears to face some roadblocks. While Jon Jones may retire soon, Ciryl Gane is seemingly uninterested in facing the No.4-ranked heavyweight. Speaking at the UFC Paris post-fight press conference, 'Bon Gamin' stated:
"I know he called out my name, but that’s perfectly normal in this position. He wants to go up [the rankings, but me too. You know what I mean? So I did a mistake, it was my first real mistake unfortunately and the people were a little bit hard with me, it was a little bit painful, but tonight I proved, with all of the pressure I can have, I did very great and I proved it ... and I want to go back to the belt, for sure." [h/t MMA Fighting]
Check out the post-fight press conference below:
