Could Tom Aspinall’s lack of time inside the Octagon be his biggest obstacle against Jon Jones?
In the time that it took Jon Jones to defend his undisputed UFC heavyweight title once, Aspinall has fought three times. However, his total fight time is a mere three minutes and 22 seconds with wins over Marcin Tybura, Sergei Pavlovich, and Curtis Blaydes coming in the opening round.
By comparison, ‘Bones’ title defense against Stipe Miocic in November lasted 14:29.
While discussing Aspinall’s inevitable unification clash with Jones, former two-time title challenger Chael Sonnen suggested that the Brit’s lack of fight time and never being truly pushed to the limit inside the Octagon could work against him.
“Tom hasn’t had a half hour in four years,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “You got a few minutes over here, and you got a few minutes over here. You’re a lot better to couple that and then take the break on the back end. You’re a lot better to sprinkle it.
“When a fight turns out to be harder than you’re used to it being…that is one thing about Jon Jones! His dog meter has been tested. He has had to bring it in!”
Tom Aspinall accused Jon Jones of ‘Conning the public’
Given that Tom Aspinall is the UFC’s reigning interim heavyweight champion, a showdown with ‘Bones’ should have been a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately, anything could be further from the truth.
Despite Dana White’s recent positivity that the fight will happen this summer, Aspinall has continued to express his frustration over the stalled scrap, going so far as to accuse ‘Bones’ of “conning the public.”
“Listen, I’m not disputing that he’s an amazing fighter,” Aspinall told Mike Majlak. “I think the fact that he didn’t want to fight [Francis] Ngannou for three years and now he doesn’t want to fight me over a year, and he just the way he manipulates the media and the public is super smart. I don’t want to take anything away from him.
“But do I think he’s scared to take the tough fights at this stage in his career? Absolutely. I can [understand it], I respect it. But if you’re going to ask me the straight up question ‘is Jon Jones afraid to fight me?’ The honest answer would be ‘yes’.”
