Tom Aspinall Talks UFC 304 Manchester, Dealing With Jon Jones Situation, And Infamous Alex Pereira Staredown Picture (Interview)

Tom Aspinall is going to defend his interim heavyweight title on July 27th at UFC 304 Manchester against Curtis Blaydes, in a fight that has huge implications in the UFC heavyweight division.

We sat down with Aspinall, courtesy of Cuervo, the official Tequila partner of the UFC, to preview the upcoming UFC 304 fight card.

Ahead of his big fight, Aspinall teamed up with Cuervo to participate in The Cuervo Challenge: One Round in the Octagon, a blind taste test featuring Cuervo haters who are forced to go head-to-head with the UFC interim champ in the Octagon if they guess wrong during the Cuervo taste test.

The taste testers believed that they were actually going to face off against Aspinall in the Octagon and hilarity ensues. Fans who think they can beat the Cuervo challenge can sign up to take the challege on Cuervo’s website today.

While speaking with Tom he shared his thoughts on fighting at home, the whole Jon Jones situation, and the infamous Alex Pereira staredown picture from UFC 300.

Hey Tom, UFC 304 July 27th in Manchester is right around the corner. How does it feel to be fighting at home?

“Yeah, it’s going to be pretty good. I’ve never fought in Manchester before. I’m from Manchester, so I’ve headlined the O2 in London three times. Now I’m about to fight in my home city, which is, I think fighting away from home is actually way easier I guess than fighting at home. Fighting at home comes with way, way more pressure, and this time even more so. But I love it. I love the pressure. This is why I am in this thing, to test myself and to see if I can do what I do under immense pressure. I’m looking forward to testing myself on July 27th.”

Why do you feel there’s more pressure fighting at home?

“You’re always going to have supporters, and people want you to win, but when you’re at home, especially in Manchester, it’s literally near enough, going to be 25,000 people wanting me to win. Or not even just wanting me to win, but expecting me to win. And That comes with a lot of pressure and a lot of media obligations and a lot of people wanting my attention and all that stuff. That brings pressure and expectations. But I’m all right with it, man. I’ve done a lot of stuff in my career so far, and I’m used to this stuff now, so I’ll be fine.”

UFC Manchester is going to start at a weird time locally, how are you preparing for that?

“Well, I’ve been told that I’m going to walk to my fight between 4:00 and 4:30 AM. It’s obviously not ideal in terms of performance. But it’s something that I’m going to prepare myself for, mentally and physically. I’m going to start training around at the same time. I’m going to fight a couple of weeks out. I’m going to start slowly but surely moving my body clock along. I spoke to Leon Edwards. He’s going to be doing the same thing. I’m going to copy his model because he’s got a sleep therapist involved. I’m going to make sure I’m ready to fight optimally, if that’s even a word. But I’m going to be on my best performance at 4:00 AM, 05:00 AM UK time, and it’s going to be a great fight. Regardless of what time it is, people will be tuning in and people need to tune in because these are the two best heavyweights in the world, fight each other.”

Do you consider your loss against Blaydes an actual loss considering you blew out your knee 15 seconds into the fight?

“For me, personally, if it’s on the record books it says it’s a loss, then it’s a loss. For example, earlier in my career, before I got to the UFC, I got a DQ loss. I don’t think I should have been DQed in the fight. I’m not a dirty fighter by any means. I didn’t do an +illegal move, but I still got disqualified for it. I was winning the fight, but it’s gone down as a It’s a loss on the record. If it’s gone down as a loss, technically, it’s a loss. I obviously want to get that one back.”

A lot of people are talking about you vs Jon Jones….how do you deal with that noise leading up to a fight vs Blaydes?

“Well, at first I was obviously pushing and rallying for the fight. That’s the fight I wanted, but it’s not going to happen. So I got to leave that where it is because right now I fight Curtis Blaydes. If I look past a guy like Curtis Blaydes, before I know it, the referee is going to be waking me up. Simple as that. This guy can’t be looked past at all. He’s one of the most dangerous guys in the whole world. So I am looking past him at all. Right now, Jon Jones and all that situation is quite irrelevant to me. I’m thinking about Curtis Blaydes only.”

You and Jon bumped into each other and you put your arm on Jon’s shoulder, kind of like you did with Pavlovich. What happened there?

Nothing’s going on. I think everyone’s reading into it too much. I’m just a friendly guy. That’s how I show affection. But I’m a touchy guy, I guess when I like somebody. I was just trying to be respectful. Jon took it the wrong way.

There was also a picture of you staring down Alex Pereira at UFC 300 while sitting in the crowd, are people reading too much into that as well?

“Honestly, at UFC 300, I had the best seat in the house. I was so lucky to get that seat, they really looked after me with that one. . I was there for the fight walkouts, but it wasn’t just Alex Pereira that I was doing that with. I’m a high-level athlete myself. I’m the best athlete in the world in the heavyweight division. I want to see how other athletes are reacting mentally and physically moments before they go to battle with another man. I’m interested in that thing. How are they looking psychologically? And that’s all I was doing But I was also doing that with the women’s flyweight fight. You know what I mean? I wasn’t like I want to fight with them. I was just looking like, what’s this guy looking at? I thought it was a cool picture, so I posted it.”