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Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall admits he fears Jon Jones, but he says that fuels him.

Aspinall became the interim champ back in November and is hopeful to face Jones in the very near future. However, ‘Bones is focused on getting the Stipe Miocic fight, and after that, he could walk away from the sport.

But, if the bout happens, Tom Aspinall says he does fear Jon Jones but he thinks that would bring the best out of him.

“Well, I’m obviously confident that I could beat Jon Jones, because I want to fight him,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel (via MMAMania). “I’m not making it a secret that I want to fight him. I’ve done everything that I can until this point. I want to prove that I’m the best in the world. I want to fight Jon Jones, obviously. But he doesn’t, so there’s not a lot I can do about that…”

“Do I fear him? Absolutely,” Aspinall added. “I fear all of my opponents. Like, these guys are the best in the world, the absolute best in the world. Absolutely I fear him, but that fuels me.”

Tom Aspinall has spoken about how he was fearful of opponents in the past, as he admitted he was scared of Sergei Pavlovich, but that helped motivate him, which he ended up winning by first-round TKO.

Tom Aspinall Says Curtis Blaydes Could Be His Next Opponent

Although Tom Aspinall has been trying to secure a fight with Jon Jones, it does seem unlikely, and instead, he says he is open to defending his interim title next time out in a rematch against Curtis Blaydes.

“I’d like to fight Curtis Blaydes because when I fought him I got injured and that means that technically he wins and I don’t like that,” Aspinall said. “I want to be the winner, not Curtis Blaydes, so all respect to Curtis and everything. Like him, good guy, professionally I owe him a beating, so that’s what I want to do next.”

Aspinall and Blaydes fought back in 2022 and just 15 seconds into the bout, the Brit tore his knee, which is why he wants to get that fight back.

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Title Shot?
| BJPenn.com

The UFC uses poorly designed gloves that do nothing to stop eyepokes from happening. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Another week, another eye poke controversy at a UFC event.

At this point, accidental eye pokes during fights are just a part of the sport. No matter how many times one fighter might stick his fingers into the eyes of another fighter, we deem it unintentional and rarely even take a point over the matter.

UFC Atlantic City featured a fight between Chris Weidman and Bruno Silva that featured several unpunished eye pokes, including two in the finishing stanza that led to a Weidman win. Nothing can be done about it, right?

Wrong.

Fellow UFC fighter and UFC 300 co-main participant Justin Gaethje has just weighed in on the New Jersey situation with a subtle reminder that the promotion is semi-responsible for all the eye pokes in their fights.

“Too bad UFC don’t want to change those s— gloves,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

That’s right: fighters are well aware that the official UFC gloves are at fault for a lot of eye pokes. The stiff leather pulls your hand open, leaving fingers outstretched which is a key issue when it comes to accidental eye injuries. We’ve known this for years.

Gaethje is especially aware of this because his coach Trevor Wittman developed his own MMA glove called the ONX glove which curves the hand so it’s nearly impossible for your fingers to be in the outstretched position.

According to Joe Rogan, the UFC has looked at the glove and were interested in using them but decided not to because Wittman wouldn’t sell them the design outright.

So next time you see a fight ruining eye poke, remember that the UFC is well aware their gloves are poorly designed and cause eye pokes. Know that there are better gloves out there that would prevent eye pokes. And understand that it is a choice by the promotion to not use them.

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Former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor has been warned of the “psychological effect” his leg fracture suffered three years ago will have on him – as well as haunt him in his expected return to the Octagon later this summer, by fellow ex-UFC champion, Chris Weidman.

Weidman, a former undisputed middleweight gold holder, himself turned in a dubious and controversial unanimous decision win over Bruno Silva on the main card of UFC Atlantic City overnight, suffering a devastating compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula back in a 2021 loss to Uriah Hall.

As for McGregor, the Dubliner has been sidelined since 2021 to boot akin to Weidman, himself fracturing his left tibia and fibula in a second round doctor’s stoppage TKO defeat to former interim champion, Dustin Poirier.

Chris Weidman issues advice to Conor McGregor

And expected to take on Michael Chandler this summer in a return to the Octagon, Crumlin striker, McGregor has been warned that his prior leg injury will likely haunt him in his return to the sport by Weidman, who himself suffered injuries in his own return against Brad Tavares last summer. 

“I know he (Conor McGregor) watched my fight,” Chris Weidman told MMA Fighting during a recent interview. “I think he probably learned a lot watching my fight (against Brad Tavares). Some of the red flags of what to be prepared for, for whoever he fights, and also maybe you’re not going to be able to throw back as much as you want. Or now, be prepared that could be something you have to deal with, so really train on kicking back.”

“You want that to be second nature when you’re in there,” Weidman explained. “For me, I thought I was good with that, but I wasn’t. I would have really worked at it more and realize there is a psychological effect when you break your leg in half like that. So, you need to really get that habit back strong and focus on that. I don’t really thinking I need to say much. He should just watch my last fight and learn from that.” (H/T BJPENN.com)

Do you expect to see Conor McGregor fight this summer?

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Erin Blanchfield is already looking ahead to her next fight.

The flyweight contender suffered the first setback of her UFC career on Saturday, dropping a one-sided decision to Manon Fiorot in the UFC Atlantic City main event. It was a humbling moment for Blanchfield, 24, who has long been touted as a future champion at 125 pounds.

Later in the evening, Blanchfield took to Instagram to issue a brief statement on the loss.

“Rough night, I’ll be back better,” Blanchfield wrote.

Prior to Saturday’s loss, Blanchfield had lived up to the hype, with six wins in the UFC including a decision nod over recent title challenger Taila Santos and a dominant submission win over former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade. Against Fiorot, Blanchfield failed to muster up any sustained offense over the course of their 25-minute contest and went on to lose a decision with 50-45 scores across the board for Fiorot.

With the win, Fiorot kept her UFC mark unblemished at 7-0. The French standout is now poised to challenge for the flyweight title as soon as Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko settle their championship trilogy later this year following their coaching assignments on The Ultimate Fighter 32.

While the result is a disappointing one for Blanchfield, “Cold Blooded” doesn’t turn 25 until May and appears to still have a bright future ahead of her.

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