Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall returns to the cage on July 27 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England against 4th ranked Curtis Blaydes.  The heavyweight match will serve as the UFC 304 co-main event.  

Aspinall will be defending the interim title before heavyweight champion Jon Jones defends his belt.  Jones has been sidelined since tearing a pectoral tendon while training to face former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic last November.  Potentially further setting back Jones’ return is a recent finger injury.  He tweeted, “Getting half my finger cutoff at the Los Angeles Airport,” on Saturday.  The post has since been deleted.  

Despite a stall at the top of the division, Aspinall believes it’s a great time to be a fan of heavyweights.  

“The heavyweight division is on a revival right now,” Aspinall told The MMA Hour.  “We’ve got Jon Jones.  Who knows what he’s going to do but he’s going to be active again soon, hopefully.  We’ve got Alex Pereira potentially moving up.  We’ve got [Alexander] Volkov who’s on a resurgence.  We’ve got Ciryl Gane knocking around.  We’ve got Curtis Blaydes.  We’ve got [Sergei] Pavlovich still in the mix.  

“We’ve got all kinds of guys and there’s probably a few that I have not even mentioned.  We’ve got [Jailton] Almeida.  There’s so many top level heavyweights and these next five to ten years are going to be absolutely incredible at heavyweight.  What a time to be involved in heavyweight MMA.” 

The heavyweight division is deeper than it has been in a long time.  Jones and Aspinall sit at the top of the weight class with the championship and interim title, but only one can be the best heavyweight in the world.  Aspinall believes it’s ‘by far’ him.     

“I truly believe skill for skill I’m the best heavyweight in the world by far.  By far.  Nobody comes close to me,” Aspinall said.  “Does that mean I’m going to win every fight?  No.  It doesn’t at all.  This is heavyweight MMA.  It’s literally a flip of the coin.  Anybody can win at any time.” 

“But I’m all in.  I’m absolutely all in, 100 percent on being the best heavyweight that I can possibly be,” Aspinall continued.    

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