According to the Brit, his opponent was supposed to be the division’s number two, Cyril Gagne, who turned down the fight due to filming a movie.
“The UFC wanted me to fight Cyril Gan, and I said, ‘OK – the UFC wants to do it, so we can do it,'” Aspinall said in a video posted on social media. “It doesn’t bother me – I feel like I’m a champion, I’m number one in the world, and I’m ready to fight anybody, I don’t need to be talked into it. The UFC are my bosses, they wanted me to fight Cyril and I gave my consent.”
“Meanwhile Cyril is doing a movie and wants to be the French Arnold Schwarzenegger. If he wants to do movies and be an actor, let him go and enjoy it. Do whatever he wants to do and make money. But he didn’t take the fight, choosing to do a movie, so they gave me Curtis Blades, which I’m extremely happy about.”
As a reminder, the main event of UFC 304 will be a welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad.