It feels a bit tiresome – or perhaps lazy – to continuously put the names of UFC fighters Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall in the same sentence, but, for now, it’s unavoidable.
Having dominated the Light Heavyweight division, Jon Jones, (widely-regarded as the G.O.A.T of mixed martial arts) moved up a weight class to heavyweight to then proceed to obliterate major players Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic on his way to become the undisputed champion in the process. For Jones, the tougher the competition, the easier the fights appeared to be.
But when a young, hungry, and extremely dangerous Tom Aspinall was next in line to challenge for Jones’ throne, there was only one man on the planet who didn’t want to see that bout – Jon Jones. Some would call it excuses. Some would call it arrogance. Some would call it fear.
“Tom [Aspinall] hasn’t done anything impressive in my eyes,” Jones responded to being asked if whether or not he was ‘ducking’ Aspinall. “I don’t feel that he deserves a shot.” Indicating that wiping out the entire heavyweight division – with every fight lasting less than two rounds – isn’t all that impressive.
Jones then apparently demanded “Deontay Wilder money” from UFC head honcho Dana White, in order to fight Aspinall; specifically, $30 million (AED 110 million). To which UFC President Dana White initially responded with “No chance,” but found the money anyway. It was time to call Jones’ bluff, and a bluff it was: he rejected the money, and instead decided to retire. Cowardice? Laziness? Or just sheer indifference? We guess we’ll never know.
Jon Jones’ abrupt exit resulted in Tom Aspinall becoming the official UFC Heavyweight champion – a title that he will defend for the first time against Ciryl Gane in Abu Dhabi at UFC 321 on October 26, 2025.
Aspinall is only the third British UFC Champion, the first being former Middleweight champion Michael Bisping, the second former welterweight champion Leon Edwards.
Esquire Middle East speaks to Aspinall ahead of in an exclusive interview.
The ESQ&A Interview
Esquire: Do you feel smug or flattered knowing that the greatest fighter of all time retired from the sport in order not to fight you?
Tom Aspinall: I’d fight my own mother for $30 million! But that’s just me. Jon [Jones] is clearly in a financial situation where he can say ‘no’ to that kind of money. I hope I get into that position one day where I can turn down $30 million. At this point, I don’t care about him anymore, he’s permanently in my rearview mirror. I’ve been out of action for over a year through no fault of my own, so now I just want to get back in there and fight.
Your next opponent is Ciryl Gane. Two years ago Jones beat him in less than two minutes. Do you feel any need to beat him even quicker?
Absolutely not. Every fight is different and this fight has been simmering for some time. He’s the only guy left in the Top Five who I haven’t fought. Plus, I’m an English guy and he’s a French guy, and that rivalry goes back to the beginning of time!
There’s been several headlines lately hinting that you might leave the UFC after UFC 321 and swap over to boxing instead, simply because the pay is better. Any truth to that?
That’s my dad talking [Andy Aspinall is Tom’s head coach]. I have no interest in joining boxing, and I don’t want to leave the UFC anytime soon. There’s a lot of work for me to do here, and I plan on being here for a long time.
There’s a video from a few years back circulating the internet now of when you found out you’d just won a $50k bonus and you broke down in tears. What goes through your head when you see that now?
At that time specifically I’d already made a bit of money, but nothing to brag about. But that fight in particular, I knew that if I won a bonus I could buy a house. I have three children and a wife, and buying us all a house had been my goal for a long time. So when I found out I’d won the bonus, it was just such a relief. Although it’s not unusual for me to get emotional after fight, but I rarely do it in front of the cameras.
You’ve built a reputation for fights never seem to last long. Does it ever surprise you how quickly you get things done?
This may come as a surprise, but I really don’t walk in there thinking I’m gonna knock them out quickly. I prepare for every fight as if it’s going to last 25 minutes. But again, sometimes I’ll be thinking this punch is gonna finish him, and then it’ll hit him and he won’t blink. Other times I’ll throw, what I think, is a soft shot, and it’ll end the fight immediately. So I do tend to be pretty surprised when I end a fight so quickly.
Are you disappointed when fights are over ‘too quickly’?
Listen, if I can go the rest of my career and knock everyone out within the first 10 seconds of the fight I absolutely will.
Aside from your upcoming fight with Gane, you have run through the entire heavyweight division, and you’re still so young. Is there any other opponent that you think poses any threat to you?
I’m not the kind of guy who thinks yeah, I’m just gonna run through this guy. I actually really build my opponents up, that makes me respect them. If you don’t do that, you probably won’t be very successful in this sport in my opinion. There’s a fight on the undercard, Alexander Volkov vs Jailton Almeida. I’ve already beat Volkov, so Almeida would be interesting.
When you’re back in your hometown , do you get hounded by fans a lot?
Oh yeah. Constantly.
Do guys always come up to you asking, if not threatening, to fight you?
All the time.
How do you deal with situations like that?
At the end of the day, I am a human being. So if somebody gets in my face and wants to test me, naturally, I’m going to want to shut them up. But the worst of all is when people ask for a photo, want to ask about UFC stuff, and when I politely say ‘thank you, but can I go on with my night now?’ They’ll get all combative and stuff, like ‘What the hell, mate? I’m only asking for a picture, no need to be rude.’ That gets tiring after a while.
What will you do after you win on Saturday night?
Same thing I usually do: just eat pizza for 10 days straight.
Tom Aspinall fights Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, October 26, 2025.
Tickets for UFC 321 are still available at etihadarena.ae and ticketmaster.ae
