At UFC 304, Tom Aspinall will turn out to be the primary interim title holder to defend his belt in eleven years.
The Brit made essentially the most out of a late discover alternative at UFC 295 the place he stepped into the co-main occasion to face Sergei Pavlovich for the belt as a result of Jon Jones’ harm that postponed his combat with Stipe Miocic.
In most circumstances, Aspinall would now be the following in line to face the returning Jones in a title unification clash however “Bones” remains to be seeking to reschedule his combat with Miocic for later this 12 months.
With Aspinall looking to avenge his loss to Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event on July 27, some could argue that him defending the interim title is much less vital than being the undisputed champion.
Jon Anik believes that while there could also be two champions within the division, Aspinall defending the title could be simply as vital regardless of him being the interim titleholder.
Jon Anik Says That Tom Aspinall Will Be Defending The Undisputed Championship Towards Curtis Blaydes
In a current interview with InsideFighting, UFC commentator Jon Anik gave his ideas on the lay of the land proper now within the heavyweight division.
He spoke about how Israel Adesanya thought-about his title unification conflict with Robert Whittaker to depend as a title protection regardless of him coming in because the interim champion.
In the identical vein, Anik believes that Aspinall getting his hand raised in Manchester later this month counts in his thoughts as a title protection of the undisputed championship.
He sees it that whether or not the title says interim earlier than it or not, there are two equal UFC heavyweight champions proper now.
“Interim championships are a really highly effective factor in my thoughts even when possibly up to now I’ve mentioned that the belt ought to be silver, I take into account there to be two undisputed UFC heavyweight champions proper now and Tom Aspinall’s certainly one of them. He’s defending his undisputed title so far as I’m involved and for people who have the archaic philosophy possibly {that a} champion isn’t actually the champion, and it’s my opinion that it’s archaic, but when a champion doesn’t defend their belt a minimum of one time, then they don’t seem to be the champion.
“I imply Alex Pereira by no means defended his UFC middleweight champion and no person would dispute that he wasn’t the middleweight king. However, if Tom Aspinall defends the interim championship, so far as I’m involved, that’s an undisputed championship title protection.”
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