Tom Aspinall has hit out at those claiming he is responsible for a perceived lack of movement in the heavyweight division, claiming one of his rivals is ‘holding s*** up’.

Aspinall is the current interim UFC heavyweight champion after beating Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295, with reigning champion proper Jon Jones not having fought since March 2023.

Jones defeated Ciryl Gane for the then-vacant title, before suffer a pair of injuries that have kept him out of action, though he has since returned to the gym.

Fans would therefore understandably be looking forward to a huge clash between Aspinall and Jones, however it is though that Bones is eyeing a date in the Octagon with former champion Stipe Miocic.

With Aspinall seemingly not yet in line to take on Jones for the chance to turn his interim supremacy into an official title, some have claimed that the British fighter is responsible for holding up a potential crossing of paths.

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Tom Aspinall has hit out at those claiming he is slowing down the heavyweight division in UFC

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The interim heavyweight champion is set to take on Curtis Blaydes in a rematch of their 2022 clash (pictured in 2022)

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Aspinall hit out at Jon Jones – the reigning champion – for ‘slowing s*** down’ with the two still yet to face off

‘That’s not me, that’s someone else at the top of the division,’ Aspinall said on his YouTube channel.

‘It’s not me. I’m here to fight people. [I] love this stuff, this is what I was born to do, this is what I wanted to do since the year started — since the last fight against Pavlovich — I’ve wanted to get back in there.’

‘Bit of a strange conundrum with my division,’ Aspinall continued. ‘Usually, when the champ is coming back, the interim [champion] would obviously fight the champ. Jon Jones is holding sh*t up, let’s be honest.

‘He’s playing games, so me and Curtis Blaydes though. We have history, we fought before — granted it was 15 seconds, it wasn’t an actual fight. I got injured, Curtis takes the win, but now it’s time to get a bit of payback.’

Aspinall will be taking on Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event at UFC 304, which is set to be held in Manchester in July.

The clash will be a rematch from two years ago when the British fighter sustained a knee injury in the early stages, and therefore missing out on the win.

As such, despite not getting his shot at the title with Jones, Aspinall admitted that he is still ‘very, very motivated’ by a chance at revenge.

‘If I’m not going to fight Jon, which obviously that’s not going to happen right now, this is the ideal situation,’ Aspinall explained.

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Aspinall suffered a devastating knee injury in the early stages of his clash with Blaydes in 2022

‘So [I’m] very, very happy, very, very motivated, for it. I’m going to put absolutely everything into the training camp, absolutely everything into the lifestyle, and, yeah, looking forward to it very much.’

The huge card in Manchester will be the first sporting event to be held at the £365million Co-op Live arena – the largest indoor entertainment venue in the UK.

However, despite the excitement of a return to England for the UFC, fans will have to deal with a late night – with the main card set to begin at 3am BST.