Demetrious Johnson believes Tom Aspinall has the physical attributes to beat UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Interim champ Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) is hoping to get his title unification bout with Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC), who defended his title with a third-round TKO of Stipe Miocic in Saturday’s UFC 309 main event.
Jones wants to be compensated handsomely for a potential Aspinall fight, and Johnson sees Aspinall as the man to beat him.
“I think Tom Aspinall has the speed, the athleticism and the power to give Jon Jones problems,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel. “Tom Aspinall is still young, and he’s still getting better, but I think this version of Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is very – Tom Aspinall can beat him.
“I feel comfortable saying that just because you have somebody who’s going to take the fight to Jon Jones and not be scared. Now, can Tom Aspinall run into one of those elbows and a spinning back sh*t and a flying knee? One thousand percent.”
Johnson’s current pecking order at heavyweight goes PFL heavyweight superfights champ Francis Ngannou, Jones, then Aspinall. He thinks Ngannou would also be a tough stylistic matchup for Jones.
“I wish I would have seen Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall because once again, I still think the heavyweight king of the world is probably Francis Ngannou because he never lost the heavyweight championship,” Johnson said. “He knocked out Stipe Miocic, and that was when Stipe Miocic was a little bit more active. …
“I think Francis has the power factor and the athleticism, and I bet you he can probably defend Jon Jones’ takedown, and I bet you he can probably deal with Jon Jones’ range.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.