Interim champion Tom Aspinall 'quite upset' at being left on UFC sidelines

The 30-year-old from Atherton became interim champion in November after knocking out Sergei Pavlovich inside 69 seconds at New York's Madison Square Garden.

He accepted the fight on less than two weeks' notice, after the initial main event was scrapped when Jon Jones – widely regarded as the greatest fighter of all time - suffered a serious pectoral injury training for his defence against Stipe Mirocic.

Indeed, Mirocic turned down the opportunity to fight Pavlovich for the interim title - which opened the door for Aspinall.

However, UFC chief Dana White is determined to press ahead with his dream of a Jones-Mirocic superbout - and Aspinall's patience has finally snapped.

In a series of Twitter (X) posts, Aspinall believes he should be being afforded far more respect as the man in possession of the title.

"Last time Stipe fought and won, GTA: San Andreas had just come out on PS2," he wrote. "He will fight next for the undisputed heavyweight title, ahead of me, who’s the interim champ, active and ranked #1 in the world right now. This makes me quite upset."

He continued: "Stipe is one of my favourites. Loads of respect to him his Résumé is far superior to mine. That being said, the UFC has never been about this. It’s about who’s the best right now, and I believe that’s me and it’s only right I get to prove it #freeaspinall."

The followed: "Surely if you’re interim champ, your next fight should be to fight for undisputed? Come on."

And then: "Final fun fact: Since stipe last won a fight (Aug ‘20), I have blown my knee out, went thru the rehab process and had a year off, also had seven UFC fights, including four wins vs top-10 ranked opponents and won the interim title on two weeks notice."

He concluded: "Absolutely, Stipe has a great resume and is a legend in his own right. So has Tony [Ferguson]. Maybe we should give him a shot at the undisputed title next too?"