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USA Today
08-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Derrick Lewis likes chances to knock out UFC heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall
Derrick Lewis thinks he'd have a better chance of beating heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall than his previous two bids at UFC gold against Daniel Cormier and Ciryl Gane. Lewis (28-12 MMA, 19-10 UFC), who headlines Saturday's UFC on ESPN 70 card against Tallison Teixeira (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (ESPN, ESPN+), is one of the few top-10 heavyweights in the promotion who has yet to share the octagon with Aspinall. After Jon Jones retired from MMA and Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was promoted from interim to undisputed champ, the Brit made it known he wants to beat everyone with a ranking next to their name whom he hasn't faced yet. Lewis, the all-time UFC heavyweight knockout record holder, is one of them, and he welcomes the opportunity. "I stand up right there with him," Lewis told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. "That'd be good to fight him before everything is said and done with. I have a couple fights left on my contract, and I would love to finish out my contract. That would be great if I can. It'd be good. Let him know I need to fight Tom Aspinall for the belt." Lewis, 40, has no issues admitting his previous UFC title fights were not ideal. He fought Cormier at UFC 230 in November 2018 off a less than one-month turnaround and was submitted in the second round, then was TKO'd by Gane in an interim title bout at UFC 265 in August 2021, another fight with condensed preparation. There's hope from Lewis that the third time would be the charm, especially if he got an appropriate training camp for Aspinall, whom he thinks he matches up better with than Cormier or Gane. "I haven't really fought for the belt," Lewis said. "They tried to give me a title fight when it was Stipe (Miocic), and I wasn't expecting the title fight because I had a knee injury, and I ended up fighting DC's big ass on short notice, then they tried to give me an interim title fight with Gane. I haven't really fought for the title with a proper buildup for a title fight, and that time to train and everything like that mentally. "I believe (Aspinall is a good matchup)," Lewis said. "(Knocking him out) is all I could do. What do you think I'm going to do, tap him out with a submission or something? I'm just looking to knock guys out. Every punch I'm throwing, I'm looking to knock their head off. I'm not trying to waste anything."
USA Today
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Dana White gives Jon Jones deadline to lock in Tom Aspinall title unification
Dana White gives Jon Jones deadline to lock in Tom Aspinall title unification Dana White's patience with Jon Jones is running thin. The UFC CEO has always acknowledged that the current UFC heavyweight champion has always been tough to deal with in negotiations, but White is now reaching the point of moving on from a potential title unification bout between Jones and interim champion Tom Aspinall. "Jon Jones has been an interesting human being to deal with since the day he got here," White said on "The Jim Rome Show." "But I will say this about him: you would never hear me out talking about he's the GOAT, he's the this and he's the that, if Jon Jones didn't want to fight people." White recently told reporters that Jones agreed to fight Aspinall, but was also unaware of his recent social media posts that indicated he would be willing to vacate the title. The UFC boss said he looked forward to meeting with Jones to sort things out. According to White, the delay has nothing to do with Jones being scared to fight Aspinall. "Jon Jones has never, ever said, 'I'm afraid to fight this guy,' or 'I don't like this fight for me,' or any of that stuff," White said. "One time, his coach at the time, back in the day – I don't know if he's still with him or whatever. I think it's the only fight we've ever canceled. I had to cancel a show because he wouldn't fight Chael Sonnen, because his coach thought it was a bad idea to take that fight on late notice, but it had nothing to do with Jon Jones. "Jon Jones has never turned down an opponent here or been afraid to fight anybody." Jones has publicly dismissed Aspinall as an opponent on multiple occasions. It's unclear if Jones was simply trolling Aspinall on social media, posturing for better terms while negotiating with the UFC, or perhaps both. Meanwhile, Aspinall has made it clear he has been hungry to unify the title at any given opportunity, and that the situation is more about building his legacy as a champion than fighting Jones. White is now running out of patience with Jones as he decides what to do next in his fighting career. The UFC boss has given a rough deadline for the fight to be finalized in his strongest public stance to date. "We'll see how this thing plays out over the next couple of weeks," White said. "If we can't get this fight done, we'll move on quickly. ... We'll have answers in the next couple weeks." Jones has not fought since UFC 309 in November, where he stopped Stipe Miocic to record his first heavyweight title defense. "Bones" won the vacant heavyweight crown by submitting Ciryl Gane at UFC 265 in March 2023. Aspinall won the interim title by knocking out Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November 2023, and then recorded a rarely-seen interim title defense by finishing Curtis Blaydes in the opening round at UFC 304 last July.
