Daniel Cormier considers a dominant performance by Tom Aspinall at the UFC 304 could compromise Jon Jones against Stipe Miocic.
Interim heavyweight champion Aspinall rematches Curtis Blaydes in the July 27 co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) in Manchester, England. Meanwhile, heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) is expected to make his first title defense against Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) at UFC 309 on November 9 in New York.
But if Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) can get past Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) and avenge his only loss in the Octagon, which came via injury, Cormier thinks he can put a key in promotion plans.
“Could you imagine if Tom Aspinall just eliminated Curtis Blaydes?” Cormier said in his Youtube channel. “Then the firestorm that would start to build for him to fight Jones. … For there to truly be an uprising, it would have to be Aspinall destroying Blaydes. Just because of that, you’ve seen Curtis Blaydes lose before, so people would think, ‘Oh, he beat Tom Aspinall, but we’ve seen him get beaten by Francis (Ngannou) and we’ve seen him lose to other guys. He will lose to Jones.
“But if Aspinall gets past Blaydes the same way he did Sergei (Pavlovich), and he only loses because of that injury, people would lose their minds almost insisting that he and Jones fight. If Tom Aspinall can get past this fight, and he’s clean and looks dominant, there could be a fan outrage so big that the UFC will have to be forced to do Jones vs. Aspinall. I don’t know what that would mean for my friend Stipe, but it seems like if it happens, he’ll be okay with it.”
Aspinall, 31, has long wanted to fight Jones, but recently told MMA Junkie he doesn’t need “Bones” to define his legacy.
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC 304.
