Tom Aspinall believes it’s ‘50/50’ between him and Francis Ngannou: ‘Francis is a scary man’
Tom Aspinall | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Tom Aspinall has a lot of respect for Francis Ngannou.
This Saturday, Ngannou makes his long-awaited return to MMA when he faces Renan Ferreira in the main event of PFL: Battle of the Giants. It will be Ngannou’s first MMA fight since 2022 when he successfully defended the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in his final fight with the promotion. Since then, Aspinall has made quite the impression on the UFC’s heavyweight division, winning the interim heavyweight belt and then defending his interim title back in July.
Currently, Aspinall hopes to finally have a title unification bout with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones after Jones defends his belt against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, but with Ngannou’s return to the sport, fans are now also interested in how a hypothetical fight between he and Aspinall might look. And addressing that question on his YouTube channel recently, Aspinall believes it’s close.
“That’s a good fight! That’s a great fight,” Aspinall said. “I’ve always been a big fan of Francis. I love his story, love what he’s all about. I think it’s a 50/50 fight, to be honest. Francis is a scary man. But I think technically I would take the edge. But I think that’s a great fight.”
Of course it’s exceedingly unlikely Aspinall and Ngannou will ever meet in the cage as the UFC almost never agrees to co-promote fights. However, there is a different superfight Aspinall might be able to get if Ngannou or a unified heavyweight title fight doesn’t manifest: light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
“Poatan” has been teasing a move up to heavyweight this year and if he finally does decided to make the jump, Aspinall is more than happy to welcome him in a champ vs. champ fight.
“I like the idea of that,” Aspinall said. “It’s up to Alex. He’s doing massive things at light heavyweight, he’s obviously done massive things at middleweight as well. So that’s completely up to him. If he wants to come and test the waters at heavyweight, sign me up. I’m up for it.”
Whether or not that will happen is still up in the air, but for the time being, Aspinall is simply waiting. The interim champion is set to serve as the backup fighter for the Jones vs. Miocic fight at UFC 309 next month and revealed that plans are already in motion for what comes next if his services are not needed then.
“I’m just training to be the backup fighter right now,” Aspinall said. “I’m getting myself fight. Do I think it’s going to happen? Probably not. But I’ll be ready for it if it does. And we just spoke to the UFC, we’ve got some plans in place. I can’t reveal them right now because they’re top secret but there is big news coming soon.”
