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Tom Aspinall has become the talk of the town in the UFC heavyweight division. This past Saturday, the Englishman made his long-awaited octagon return. He faced Marcin Tybura at UFC 224, making short work of the Polish heavyweight to score a TKO within a minute of the first round.
After his impressive win, Tom Aspinall punctuated his evening with a thrilling post-fight interview. He outlined his title-challenging campaign, promising to head to Paris to sit cage-side at UFC on ESPN 53. He hopes to beat the winner of the Ciryl Gane-Sergey Spivak bout, then challenge and defeat Jon Jones for the title.
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Aspinall's return led to a wave of interest from fans, who now want to see him challenge 'Bones' for the UFC heavyweight title. While Jones initially responded to the callout in a jovial manner, he subsequently went on a now-deleted Twitter tirade, which has since drawn a three-word response from Aspinall.
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Tom Aspinall isn't the only fighter to issue a challenge to Jon Jones. Sergei Pavlovich, who is on a six-fight win streak of knockouts, had previously expressed an interest in facing the UFC heavyweight champion. Unfortunately, Jon Jones' plan seems to still be beating Stipe Miocic and retiring afterwards.
The pair's matchup is scheduled for UFC 295 on November 11 this year. However, fans were not very receptive to it given Miocic's age, the fact that he has been inactive for over two years and is coming off a one-sided knockout loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Why was Tom Aspinall gone for so long?
The long absence that Tom Aspinall was subject to came from an injury at UFC Fight Night 208 in July last year. At the time, he faced Curtis Blaydes in what was surely a title eliminator and a firm test of the Englishman's ceiling as a fighter. Unfortunately, during the bout, Aspinall suffered a crippling knee injury.
Within 15 seconds into the first round, the Englishman threw a low kick, which wasn't checked, but he still recoiled in pain, clutching his knee. He had sustained a torn MCL and damaged meniscus and ACL, which required a long road to recovery.
