When Tom Aspinall first joined the UFC, he was extremely near fighting a singular light heavyweight contender.
This coming Saturday at UFC 321, Tom Aspinall will make the primary official defense of his heavyweight title when he takes on Ciryl Gane in a fight that has been an extended time coming.
Although this will probably be the primary defense of his title since being upgraded to the undisputed champion following Jon Jones‘ retirement, he did in truth defend his interim title last 12 months against Curtis Blaydes.
When he first signed with the premier promotion in 2020, there weren’t many fighters putting their hands as much as fight him, and former UFC contender Paul Craig has revealed that he was offered a fight against the heavyweight during his come-up.
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Paul Craig details being offered a fight against Aspinall
At one point during his UFC profession, ‘Bearjew’ Craig was widely considered a possible future champion due to his awkward fight style and championship caliber jiu-jitsu,
Nevertheless, when the Brit was signed by the promotion, they offered Craig a fight against the young budding star.
“So, I used to be meant to fight (Aspinall). The UFC tried to sand-bag me with this young guy, ‘Tom something’,” Craig told TNT Sports.
“I used to be like, ‘What’s his name?’ and so they were like, ‘Tom Aspinall. He’s a heavyweight so that you’ll must fight at heavyweight.’ I used to be like, ‘The guy’s an absolute monster what are you attempting to do to me?’ I used to be like, ‘I’ll pass on that one.’” Craig continued.
Throughout his profession, Aspinall has all the time struggled with getting matched up, especially through the early days of his profession.
A lot so, that he even considered an early retirement from the game due to difficulties finding fights. As a substitute, he took a transient hiatus where he competed in boxing, but soon returned to the game of MMA.
Aspinall and Gane’s coach clashed regarding ‘ducking’ comments
Just a number of months ago, Aspinall and Gane faced off for the primary time during a pre-fight press conference in Paris, which soon turned bitter.
After their fight was announced, the champion lifted the lid on historic negotiations, claiming that on several occasions, Gane turned down a fight against him.
Following Aspinall’s claims, that are believed to be true for essentially the most part, he was collared by Gane’s head coach Fernand Lopez following the press conference.
Fortunately for the French team, they now have the prospect to silence Aspinall on Saturday night, hoping to avoid joining Chael Sonnen with an unwanted stat in undisputed title fights.