“He has nothing else to prove except that he can beat Tom Aspinall,” MMAnews quoted Bisping as saying. “Because if he retires right now, it’s always going to be talked about. I know it annoys John and I’m sorry to bring it up, but there are people who say he avoided Francis Ngannou. I’m not claiming that, but that version exists. I don’t think it’s true, but that’s what people say.”
“If he beats Stipe and doesn’t fight Tom Aspinall, that’s another story that will stay forever. People will say that he avoided Tom Aspinall because he was afraid of him. That he saw Tom as a big man, a real heavyweight who moves like a middleweight.”
A few days earlier, Jon Jones, who is recovering from two surgeries, called Tom Aspinall’s championship belt imaginary, and also made it clear that he was not interested in a unification fight with the Briton, which would do nothing for his legacy. At the same time, the American expressed his willingness to make a postponed bout with his compatriot Stipe Miocic, who scored his last victory three and a half years ago, winning a title trilogy against Daniel Cormier.