Tom Aspinall has confirmed he is the back-up fighter for the UFC 309 main event between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.
A fight between UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former champion Miocic has been planned since last summer, with the fight confirmed in July 2023 ahead of the pair meeting that November, but a serious pectoral injury saw Jones pull out of the fight which was then put on hiatus.
The bout was pushed back a year and the pair are now set to face off on 16th November 2024, with Aspinall on standby should either fighter pull out.
Fans have long called for Aspinall to fight Jones ahead of Miocic as the interim champion, with the Englishman making the unusual - but not unprecedented - move of defending the interim title against Curtis Blaydes.
Aspinall moved to 12-2 with a series of quick-fire stoppages before his momentum was halted by a knee injury sustained seconds into his first bout with Blaydes. A year after the injury, Aspinall came back with a first-round stoppage of Marcin Tybura, winning the interim title against Sergei Pavlovich, and defending that against Blaydes.
Excluding his defeat to Blaydes, Aspinall has spent a mere 17 minutes and six seconds in the Octagon at an average of just two minutes and eight seconds per fight, and the destructive manner of his wins have him next in line to fight the winner of Jones v Miocic to unify the belt.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Aspinall confirmed he will fight for the undisputed title next regardless of the outcome of the UFC 309 main event, saying: "We have options in place in case one guy wants to retire, one guy wants to continue, both guys want to retire. We have all bases covered."