Tom Aspinall has spoken out for the first time since being named as the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion following the shock retirement of Jon Jones.
UFC president Dana White announced in a press conference on Saturday that Jones had officially retired from mixed martial arts, bringing the curtain down on a 17-year career.
The 37-year-old had been the UFC Heavyweight Champion since March 2023 but, when he was forced to pull out of a title defence against Stipe Miocic later that year through injury, the UFC decided to name an interim champion.
Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich for the vacant belt in November 2023 and has held it ever since, with fans having been desperate to see him take on Jones in a title unification fight.
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But while the Englishman repeatedly stated he wanted the fight, Jones appeared to have no interest - and his retirement means the highly-anticipated bout will never take place.
He vowed in November to quit the sport unless he received 'f**k you money' to fight Aspinall.
His final decision means that Aspinall has now been promoted to become the new undisputed champion, and has spoken out for the first time since that confirmation in a new YouTube video.
"The news has broken, I'm sure everyone has seen it," he said. "UFC Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world moving forward.
"Very, very important to me just that I acknowledge everyone quickly who has supported me in, I'm not going to say it's been a tough time, but a bit of a challenging time over the last 10 or 11 months that I have been inactive due to no fault of my own.
"Luckily, that's all behind us now. Massively appreciate the support from everybody. Massively appreciate the support going forward.
"I'm going to keep this thing as active as possible. I want to be the best heavyweight ever to walk the face of the earth. I'm going to defend this thing as much as I possibly can. I'm going to keep you guys entertained, and I'm really going to give back to everybody who's shown support over the last year, the last five years, the last 10 years.
"We're going to see an active, defending undisputed heavyweight champion going forward. Thank you guys."
Aspinall has been linked with fighting Cyril Gane in his first fight as champion, though that may not necessarily be the fight that the UFC decides to go for.
Brazilian heavyweight Jailton Almeida called out the Wigan-born star on Twitter, writing: "Congrats champ. You deserve that. Now, let's make the only fight who makes sense! Aspinall vs Almeida for undisputed HW title of the world."
Topics: Tom Aspinall, UFC, MMA, Dana White, Jon Jones
Ryan Smart