Aspinall Not Interested In Interim Title

Tom Aspinall has wasted little to no time establishing himself as an elite Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight. Still only five fights into his run with the company, the Brit is fine with continuing onward at a slower pace.

This month’s UFC London event concluded with the biggest win of Aspinall’s 14-fight career as he finished Alexander Volkov with a first-round straight armbar submission (watch highlights). Now ranked at No. 6 in the division, Aspinall makes for a prime potential candidate to challenge for an interim title in undisputed kingpin Francis Ngannou’s absence. However, the Manchester, England native is not all too interested in that.

“That’s not really something that I think about. I’m not interested in that, really,” Aspinall told CBS Sports. “I think there are other people that deserve it more like Stipe [Miocic] or Jon Jones. There are definitely other people who deserve it more than me. I’ve only just broken into the top 10. I’m not looking at doing any of that stuff. Look at Ciryl Gane, he was this close to beating Ngannou. People like that guy deserve it way more than me.”

Following his Volkov victory, Aspinall let it be known he wants No. 3-ranked Aussie brawler Tai Tuivasa for his next opponent. Though Aspinall now finds himself less confident in that bout coming to fruition with rumblings having started up about Tuivasa vs. Miocic.

Ultimately, the 28-year-old just wants to be “the guy” people think of when they think of British mixed martial arts (MMA).

“Nothing just yet, but I heard before that he was in talks with Stipe to get that match,” Aspinall said of a fight with Tuivasa. “Then I heard from a couple of inside sources that fight is nowhere near close. The ball is in his court, but I want to fight in the U.K. Me and Tai in the U.K. would be unbelievable. I want to be the U.K. guy. I want to fight in the U.K. I don’t want to go on a card now and just be another guy on the card. Do you know what I mean? I want to be the U.K. darling. I want to be that guy.”