Tom Aspinall spills UFC secret, Francis Ngannou reacts to Jon Jones' injury, Charles Oliveira's angry retort: MMA News Roundup

Find out about the biggest UFC updates and other stories with Sportskeeda's daily MMA News Roundup.

Today's issue will discuss Tom Aspinall's take on the new heavyweight title fight, Francis Ngannou's reaction to Jon Jones' injury, and more.

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#3. Tom Aspinall reveals top UFC secret about the future of the heavyweight belt

Jon Jones had to pull out of the UFC 295 heavyweight fight against Stipe Miocic owing to a severe tear in his pectoral tendon. The injury is likely to put him out of action for six to nine months, although renowned MMA physician Dr. David Abbasi believes it could heal within four to six months.

Tom Aspinall, who is now fighting Sergei Pavlovich on the card for the interim heavyweight title, spilled a significant secret to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. He revealed that both Jones and Miocic were expected to retire after their fight and he was to fight Pavlovich for the vacant belt sometime in 2024.

"I was sworn to secrecy a little bit. The original plan was, obviously, them two guys were going to fight, and Sergei was going to be the backup. I think they were under the impression that both guys were going to retire afterward... If they were both going to retire, then I was going to fight Pavlovich for the vacant title anyway. Like early next year."

Dana White stated during the Power Slap 5 press conference that it would've been disrespectful to even offer a replacement fight to Miocic since the UFC heavyweight was laser-focused on facing Jones and no one else.

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#2. Francis Ngannou reacts to Jon Jones' pectoral tendon tear

Before his controversial UFC exit, Francis Ngannou was touted to welcome Jon Jones to the heavyweight division with the gold on the line. After months of negotiation, Ngannou and the UFC could not agree on the terms of his contract, which led to a much-talked-about split.

Ngannou was recently asked about Jones withdrawing from his title fight with Stipe Miocic in an interview with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie. Ngannou said:

"I think it's sad news. It's never good news when an athlete gets injured basically in training. I hope he recovers well."

When asked if such an incident would've made things worse if he had stayed in the UFC for the anticipated fight with Jones, the former heavyweight champion said:

"Something like this, it's not a thing that you can blame to somebody. It can happen to everybody. It could've happened here. It could happen to anybody so I don't think that's a part of the decision, but yes, it sucks though."

Ngannou added that he was surprised the UFC went ahead and booked Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich instead of finding an interim replacement for Stipe Miocic.

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#3. Charles Oliveira gives a fiery reply to Belal Muhammad

With less than two weeks remaining before UFC 294, Charles Oliveira was forced out of the title rematch against Islam Makhachev. He suffered a nasty cut above his right eye while training and needed to get stitches to recover.

Belal Muhammad accused Oliveira of getting injured on purpose so that he didn't have to fight Makhachev in Abu Dhabi. Not only did Muhammad face fan backlash for his comments, but also earned a scathing retort from 'do Bronx' himself for such claims.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Oliveira said:

"I've been in this sport for 13 years. They want to surf my wave. They just want to make themselves seen and heard. Who would cause such a situation in which you have such a big cut on the eye? They all just talk sh*t. At the end of the day, I don't pay attention to them. They wanna be who I am, they wanna be where I am, but they're not me."

Oliveira was replaced by Alexander Volkanovski, who took the fight on short notice and ended up suffering a head-kick KO.