UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall insists he isn’t playing the waiting game the way Michael Chandler did.
Chandler waited for more than a year to face Conor McGregor after they filmed “The Ultimate Fighter,” but he ended up moving on eventually after the fight never materialized. As Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) awaits a title-unification bout with heavyweight champ Jon Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC), many have compared him to Chandler.
Aspinall explained how their situations are different.
“I see a lot of people comparing me to Michael Chandler,” Aspinall recently said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy.” “Michael Chandler waited for a long time for Conor McGregor and stuff like that. I’m not waiting for one fight. I’m not trying to fight one guy. I’m trying to fight all the guys.
“I’m trying to be the guy at heavyweight who takes out everybody, and it doesn’t matter who it is: Ciryl Gane, (Alexander) Volkov rematch, (Jailton) Almeida, Derrick Lewis, Brock Lesnar, whoever it is. I don’t care. I want to fight everybody, and I want to fight as much as possible, get some excitement back in this division.”
Aspinall is convinced that Jones won’t end up fighting him.
“Let’s not talk about Jon Jones anymore,” Aspinall said. “All the best, the guy’s living his best life. Full respect to him, wish him all the best in the future. He deserves all the money and success that he gets. I’m the active guy. I’m going to fight somebody, and that’s going to be announced pretty soon.”
