#FreeAspinall! Frustrated Interim Champ ‘Quite Upset’ By State Of Division

Tom Aspinall is not happy with the current state of the Heavyweight division in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

November 2023 turned out to be more of a stagnation for the sport’s largest weight class rather than the expected — albeit minor — progression. Ahead of UFC 295 that month (Nov. 11, 2023), the current undisputed titleholder, Jon Jones, suffered a torn pectoral muscle that forced him to withdraw from his title defense against Stipe Miocic. Therefore, the promotion decided to instead create an interim crown and match Aspinall against the surging Russian knockout artist, Sergei Pavlovich.

Aspinall, 30, continued to perform impressively despite the late notice as he put away Pavlovich with strikes in only 69 seconds (watch highlights). Regardless of his status now as the interim champion, UFC CEO, Dana White, has remained adamant that once Jones is healthy and capable of competing again, the promotion will rebook the Miocic match up.

“Who’s excited for the legacy Heavyweight title?” Aspinall asked on Twitter with an image stating that UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, wasn’t yet in UFC when Miocic last fought. “Last time Stipe fought and won, GTA: San Andreas had just come out on PS2. He will fight next for the undisputed Heavyweight title, ahead of me, who’s the interim champ, active and ranked No. 1 in the world right now. This makes me quite upset.

“Stipe is one of my favourites,” he continued. “Loads of respect to him his Résumé is far superior to mine rn. That being said the UFC has never been about this. It’s about who’s the best right now, and I believe that’s me and it’s only right I get to prove it #freeaspinall. Surely if you’re interim champ, your next fight should be to fight for undisputed? Come on.”

The former two-time champion, Miocic, last fought when he dropped his title via second round knockout against Francis Ngannou in their rematch at UFC 260 in March 2021. Aspinall has gone 4-1 in that span with the lone loss (his only in UFC) coming via a freak 15-second anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear against Curtis Blaydes (watch highlights). As for Jones, he’s fought once, which was his divisional debut that saw him claim the then-vacant title over Ciryl Gane via first round guillotine choke (watch highlights) at UFC 285 in March 2023.