Former UFC champion Michael Bisping believes Tom Aspinall is capable of beating Jon Jones after making an emphatic return from injury at UFC London: "I don't think anybody can stop Tom Aspinall, he's that good, that switched on and he's just a great guy as well."
Wednesday 26 July 2023 17:32, UK
Tom Aspinall has the potential to be "unstoppable" and can defeat UFC heavyweight great Jon Jones, believes former champion Michael Bisping.
The Manchester fighter recently marked his comeback from a knee injury with a devastating first-round TKO victory over Marcin Tybura at UFC London to send a message to the rest of the heavyweight division.
Aspinall subsequently called out the winner of Ciryl Gane and Serghei Spivac's scheduled clash, in view of an eventual showdown with champion Jones.
"Tom Aspinall was utterly fantastic," Bisping told Sky Sports. "That was one of the best performances I've ever seen from a heavyweight.
"Marcin Tybura is no walk in the park, he's won seven of his last eight against world class opposition and Tom just blew through him like he was nothing.
"I do 100 per cent believe he will be champion, in fact I know he will be champion barring any freak injury or bad luck, he will be champion of the world.
"Jon Jones is heavyweight champion, he's an incredible fighter, incredible, one of the greatest of all time, but I don't think he can hold a candle to Tom.
"I think Tom will do the same thing to Jon Jones as what he did to Marcin Tybura."
Jones is scheduled to face Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden on November 11 in what beckons as one of the biggest heavyweight contests in MMA history.
Bisping says Jones would cement his legacy as the greatest of all time were he to see off Miocic - who was knocked out by Francis Ngannou in 2021 having previously beaten The Predator - as well as Aspinall ahead of retiring.
"I don't think anybody can stop Tom Aspinall, he's that good, that switched on and he's just a great guy as well," Bisping added.
"Jon doesn't need to fight Tom Aspinall, he doesn't need to fight anybody, he's been there done it and got the t-shirt.
"He defended the belt at light-heavy a ridiculous amount of times and went through multiple generations of champions, but he moved up to heavyweight, won the belt and now he's going to fight Stipe Miocic."
Miocic has defended the UFC heavyweight title four times since 2016, notably beating Daniel Cormier on two occasions after ousting Ngannou by unanimous decision in their first meeting in 2018.
"They say he's the greatest heavyweight of all time because he's defended the belt the most, that's great, so he becomes champ and beats the greatest of all time in term of heavyweights - what next?
"He (Jones) is talking about retiring soon because he doesn't need to prove anything, but if he walks away there will always be talk 'he didn't want to fight Tom'.
"You can fight the top prospect. Win the belt, beat the GOAT and then take on the top prospect and then what else is there to do?
"If he can pull that off Jon Jones would be the greatest of all time without question."
Michael Bisping was speaking at UFC Gym in Woking, which is opening 105 sites across the UK and Ireland in the coming years. Find out more at: www.ufcgym.co.uk
