“Tom, congratulations on the interim championship belt! That was an amazing performance!”,” the American wrote on social media.
The heavyweight title fight, which was the second most important event of the numbered event, ended as early as 69 seconds into the first round after Aspinall stunned Pavlovic in the stand-up with a right jab, dropped him with a repeated double, and then finished him with hammerfists in the parterre.
Recall that Jon Jones was supposed to go on a title defense against Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 295, however, two and a half weeks before the fight tore a pectoral muscle and was operated on, and Sergey Pavlovic and Tom Aspinall got the opportunity to play for the interim belt. That being said, the Russian had a full training camp as he insured the Jones-Miocic fight, while the Brit took the bout on short notice.
According to the UFC’s plan, Jon Jones, who will be out for at least eight months, will fight Stipe Miocic upon his return, with the winner of that contest facing Tom Aspinall.