Why Tom Aspinall was 'annoyed' after UFC Manchester - and warning to Jon Jones and the rest: 'It's not rocket science'

The 31-year-old from Atherton - who trains at Robin Park - retained his interim world heavyweight title in style at UFC 304 at the new Co-op Live.

He maintained his record of having the lowest ting time in UFC history - which was lowered to an incredible 2:02mins - by mauling Blaydes with a flurry of punches.

But did the swift finish 'annoy' him a bit?

"Yes," said Aspinall, who avenged a previous 'loss' on his record, when he blew out a knee inside 15 seconds against the American in the summer of 2022. "I want longer in there. I thought the fight would have gone longer, I wasn't meaning to knock him out that early.

"See, I've got an issue with fighters and coaches always saying the obvious thing: 'Let's drag Tom into deep waters, let's see what he's like when he gets to the third and fourth rounds'.

"Great! Drag me there then! But no-one has been able to do that so far.

"You can mouth off as much as you want when there's a camera in your face, but let's see someone actually drag me into the third or fourth or even fifth round.

"No-one's been able to do that, I'm still waiting for it to happen, and I'd actually love to see what I look like myself in that position. Because in the last two years since I fought Curtis last, my training has been on an absolutely different level.

"I'm training with a squad of heavyweights that's been chosen just for me, and honestly it's the highest level of heavyweights you'll find in one room.

"We've got between 10-15 top heavyweights every single day on the mat, and the amount of improvement in me since I've been doing that has been incomparable to the progress I made before that.

"My training now, I can't tell you how much I've improved in the last two years, and with that level of training, I just feel like my skill level has gone through the roof."

Predictably, most of the talk in the aftermath has been of a unification fight between Aspinall and Jon Jones, who is scheduled to defend his world title against Stipe Miocic when he regains full fitness.

Injury to Jones last November caused his defence against Miocic to be postponed - which opened the door to Aspinall becoming interim champion by KO'ing Sergei Pavlovich in New York City.

So far, Jones has refused to entertain the possibility of a fight with Aspinall, but the Brit is not giving up hope easily.

"Contrary to what the Jon Jones fan boys might think, I have nothing against Jon Jones as a person," he said. "I just think I'm the best heavyweight in the world, and if he also thinks he's the best heavyweight in the world, let's settle it.

"It's as simple as that, it's not rocket science. There are two guys who are claiming to be the best heavyweight in the world. Let's settle it, simple as that.

"I think I am the best heavyweight in the world. If anyone else thinks they are, come and get it, let's fight about it. There's absolutely no disrespect here, let's settle it! It's very, very easy to settle anything in this sport.

"We both sign the contract, we both agree on a date, we both train for eight weeks, and in front of 25,000 people in the arena, and millions around the world, let's see who the best is. Everyone will see it, everyone will decide, and we'll move on!

But is he afraid that his performance against Blaydes was, if anything' 'too good' - and pushed a potential fight against Jones even further away?

"I have no idea, I don't know," Aspinall added. Jon Jones is a strange guy, man, he does some strange moves. I'm just trying to be the best version of myself, the best heavyweight in the world.

"He's done all that - and I'm not taking away anything the guy has done, he's been unbelievable - but I'm just trying to fight people. I don't know what he's doing."