Midnight Mania! Benched Aspinall Eyes Boxing Debut

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Tom Aspinall did the impossible a couple weeks ago at UFC 295. Stepping up on short-notice with little training and a back injury, Aspinall smoked Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event, earning himself an interim UFC title via first-round knockout.

It was a tremendous moment for the English talent, but the issue is that there’s no immediate path forward. UFC is hellbent on booking Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic even after Jones’ injury and subsequent delay, meaning Aspinall could easily be looking at a year on the bench. He could also look to defend his interim belt, but … what’s the point of an interim belt if it doesn’t guarantee a shot at the undisputed crown?

That’s no way to treat the best active Heavyweight in the world.

Aspinall’s difficult situation has him looking outside the Octagon. During a recent interview, Aspinall was asked about the potential of stepping into the boxing ring. The former Tyson Fury sparring partner revealed that he was quite interested, as he wants to be active rather than wait around for Jon Jones.

“Let’s do it,” Aspinall responded when asked about potentially boxing (via Josh Evanoff). “I want to be active in MMA, I’m healthy. Absolutely I’ll do that, if I can get that past the UFC, I’ll do that. That’s why I think it’s a good idea, I like it, I like it a lot. I’ll do that.”

He continued, “I’ll do that, if they want me to do that, I’ll do it. But I want to be active. I had a year off with the knee injury and stuff. I’ve come back, if I do say so myself, I’ve looked pretty good in my two since then. I’m in a really good spot right now, let’s keep it moving.”

“I don’t want to be waiting around for Jon Jones. Who knows if he’s going to come back or not?… I’ll fight another contender, or we’ll do one of them. That’s a great idea.”

UFC allowing Aspinall to go box seems wildly unlikely, but if the right opponent and big money offer came in, it’s always possible. Given Francis Ngannou’s recent success against Fury, it likely wouldn’t be a surprise to see more Heavyweight MMA fighters attempt to follow the path of “The Predator.”

We’ll see if it goes as well for any of them.

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.