Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall has been out of action since last July hoping a title unification bout against champion Jon Jones materializes. The 31-year old recently met with UFC executives to discuss his future and Aspinall revealed that the meeting went well.
“We had a nice meal, and we talked everything through,” Aspinall said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Hunter [Campbell] has always been extremely personable and reasonable with me. I can’t say what he’s like with other people, I don’t know, but with me and my team, he’s been nothing but hospitable and fantastic. We had a fantastic meeting. Everything went amazing, and I understand my position now. I understand what the company’s doing now, and you’ve got to stay tuned, my friend. There’s some big news coming.”
Apinall expects ‘exciting times’ ahead and is feeling ‘very optimistic’ following the meeting in London over the weekend. While sitting out for the last seven months wasn’t what he wanted, Aspinall admitted that the break hasn’t been ‘too bad.’
Related: Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall fight ‘going to happen’
“I feel like we’re in a good spot right now,” Aspinall said. “I realize I’m a professional MMA fighter, UFC fighter, and we’re doing all this media stuff lately, it’s gone really well. The YouTube channel is flying, social media’s flying, everything’s going really, really well with that, which is good. That’s really, really nice, but first and foremost, I like fighting people. That’s what I like to do. If I’m not doing that, I feel a little bit — that’s just what I like to do. I like to do that. That’s the most important for me, and I’ve not been doing that over the last seven months.
“After the meeting, I’m feeling very optimistic about things. I’m in a really, really good spot with everything and my future moving forward. I think it’s exciting times, man. Really exciting times.
“The break, it’s not a massive break, to be honest,” he continued. “People are saying, ‘Oh, Jon Jones is holding up your career,’ and stuff. It’s only been seven months. It’s not too bad. I don’t want to say too much, but exciting stuff is in the future, for sure.”
