Tom Aspinall gained confidence after watching Jon Jones retain his heavyweight title at UFC 309.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was in attendance for Jones’ spinning back kick finish of Stipe Miocic in Saturday’s main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. He weighed in as a backup for the fight, but his services were not needed.
Aspinall expected Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) to win, but admits not necessarily in that fashion.
“It was, as you American guys say, by design,” Aspinall said during the ESPN MMA post-fight show. “It was exactly what I thought. It was exactly what I thought would happen. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if Jon could finish him. I thought maybe it’s going to be a five-rounder, at that kind of pace – Jon picking him off, Jon keeping his range, Jon walking him backwards, Jon mixing up the attacks between the head, the body, the legs, the spinning back kicks to the body, the wrestling.
“He does it all incredibly well, and I think to beat Jon Jones, the most important thing you need is good eyes, good reactions, quick reactions and in all honestly, Stipe Miocic just didn’t have that at 42 years old.”
Interim heavyweight champion Aspinall, who hopes to be next in line for a title unification bout, likes how he matches up with Jones.
“I am so happy that I got to see an up-close version of what Jon Jones looks like at 37, 38 years old and on the back end of his career,” Aspinall said. “And I’m very satisfied. The speed, just the speed … I don’t want to say too much (before we might fight).
“Absolutely, (I see takedowns). I see everything. Whether I can do it in there – Jon Jones is one of the best to ever do it, arguably the best, arguably the greatest of all time, as Dana White says, as Jon Jones says himself. But I definitely see openings. Whether I can do it or not, I don’t know. But from the outside looking in, I think I can.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.