Tom Aspinall is officially the longest-reigning interim champion in UFC history.
The 31-year-old Mancunian has held the belt for 535 days as of April 29, 2025.
Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 to win the interim heavyweight strapGetty He continues to hold the belt to date, despite his efforts to fight Jon JonesGettyAspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in November 2023 to be crowned the UFC interim heavyweight champion.
He defended the status in Manchester last July, putting away Curtis Blaydes in 60 seconds, and hasn’t fought since.
The Briton has been patiently waiting for a crack at UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who has held the unified title since making his return to MMA in March 2023 and submitting Ciryl Gane.
Usually, the interim champion would be thrust straight into a title fight next, but Jones has since opted to take a ‘legends’ fight with Stipe Miocic – stopping the now-retired veteran at UFC 309 in November.
Nonetheless, Aspinall has set another record in Dana White‘s promotion.
Former bantamweight champion Renan Barao set the feat more than 11 years ago.
He held the interim title at 145 lbs from July 21, 2012, when he defeated Urijah Faber via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 149.
‘The Baron’ unified the title in a rematch with Faber one-and-a-half years later at UFC 169 in February 2014.
Although Barao knocked out Faber in the first round, he had already been elevated to UFC bantamweight championship status on January 6 of that year, and that fight was officially his first defence of the belt.
Aspinall also currently holds the record for the shortest average fight time in the UFC, having won seven of his eight fights in the promotion in the first round.
Aspinall has made quick work of most of his UFC opponentsGetty Jones hasn’t fought since beating Miocic at UFC 309 in NovemberGettyHis fight with Jones has the potential to be the biggest UFC fight of all time, but it has been dragging out for months now.
UFC CEO White has said multiple times that the fight will happen, giving a rare ‘100 per cent’ guarantee back in December.
The delay to their inevitable fight has reached the point where frustrations are starting to mount from Aspinall’s camp.
“It’s stupid,” Aspinall’s dad, Andy, said this week.
“I have no idea the reason why the UFC don’t really want Tom to fight anybody else other than Jon Jones.
“They’re saying, ‘Stay tuned’. That’s the message they wanted Tom to give out to people… we had the meeting with Hunter [Campbell] (UFC CBO) and they’re going to try and fix the fight with Jon Jones.
Aspinall is desperately waiting for fight news from the UFCgetty“We’re in April now, still waiting for [Jones] to say, ‘I’ll have a fight,’ or ‘I’ll not have a fight.’
“And I don’t really understand that. He’s a fighter who should be having fights. Why is [Jones] still sitting around not giving an answer as to whether he’s going to fight or not?”
A frustrated Aspinall added: “We want some fight news… I’m training twice a day… I’m doing everything that an elite athlete does every day without the competition, and that part has nothing to do with me.”
Several MMA fans believe the UFC must make Jones vs Aspinall happen, or it will be an epic failure for the promotion.
English UFC legend Michael Bisping said Jones must ‘hurry up, or retire’, speaking to talkSPORT.com in March.
If Jones does leave MMA for good before fighting Aspinall, it is likely the latter would find himself up against Ciryl Gane for his first fight to win the unified belt.
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