Luckily for Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall is not interested in shooting ducks.
Earlier this month, Aspinall was officially promoted from interim to undisputed UFC heavyweight champion after Jones, the division’s previous titleholder, opted to retire instead of signing on the dotted line for a long-awaited unification clash.
Not long after taking his rightful spot atop the heavyweight throne, Aspinall celebrated with a little clay pigeon shooting alongside Andy Aspinall and Adam Catterall of ONE on ONE.
Tom Aspinall aims to become the best heavyweight of all time
Aspinall has not yet booked his first defense since being promoted. Still, the Brit has vowed to keep things moving in the heavyweight division after its last two titleholders, Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou, brought the entire weight class to a crashing halt.
“I am going to keep this thing as active as possible,” Aspinall announced on his YouTube channel. “I want to be the best heavyweight ever to walk the face of the Earth. I’m going to defend this thing as many times as I possibly can.
“I’m going to keep you guys entertained and I’m really going to give back to everybody who has showed me support over the last year, over the last five years, over the last 10 years. I really appreciate the support and love from everybody. We’re going to see an active, defending UFC heavyweight undisputed champion going forward.”
As it stands, Ciryl Gane appears to be the first man up for Aspinall. The pair have been linked together for years, with Aspinall claiming that ‘Bon Gamin’ has repeatedly turned down opportunities to step inside the Octagon with him.
Another possibility is Jailton Almeida. Aside from a brutal second-round knockout loss against Curtis Blaydes, ‘Malhadinho’ is a perfect inside the Octagon with wins over Parker Porter, Jairzinho Rozestruik, Derrick Lewis, and Alexandr Romanov. Most recently, Almeida scored an opening-round KO over Sergei Spivac at UFC 311 in January.
