- Tyson Fury and Tom Aspinall have strong relationship and previously sparred
- Jon Jones’ retirement means Aspinall was elevated to undisputed UFC champ
- Fury reacted to the news positively and took to social media in support
Tyson Fury is delighted with Tom Aspinall’s elevation to undisputed UFC heavyweight champion following Jon Jones’ retirement.
‘Get up [there], my boy!’, said the Gypsy King on his Instagram story in reaction to ‘Bones’ calling it a day and therefore elevating Aspinall.
Fury has sparred with Aspinall years ago and the pair maintain a strong mutual respect.
Back in 2022, Aspinall spoke about Fury’s influence on him, saying: ‘I think Tyson Fury’s helped me the most mentally. Obviously, I improved a lot. My skill set improved, my boxing improved, definitely.
‘It brought me a long way skill-wise. But more so mentally. If Tyson Fury ever gets a watch of this, ‘Thank you.’ I’ve never actually had the chance to thank him for it.
‘He has completely changed my career and the outlook of what I’ve got on combat and fighting.
He added: ‘Without him I wouldn’t be where I am right now because my mentality’s changed completely since I trained with him. It was quite a long time ago now, I was in my early 20s, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to carry on with this sport or box or maybe stop fighting altogether.
‘I didn’t know what I wanted to do and yeah, he just completely changed my whole outlook on everything so I appreciate it.’
Jones chose not to fight Aspinall in what would have been the biggest pay-per-view of the year, leading to accusations that he was ducking the Brit.
Aspinall has been dominant in the octagon and won every fight in the UFC by finish, barring a defeat by Curtis Blaydes due to a knee injury.
A day after Jones announced his retirement, it emerged he is facing a misdemeanour charge of fleeing the scene of an accident. A criminal summons accusing Jones of the charge was filed in Albuquerque Metropolitan Court Tuesday.
Jones has been called to appear in court on July 24 for a bond arraignment. His lawyer said he was stunned by the charge and believes the police are wrongly targeting his client.
A police officer was said to be investigating a road accident on February 21 when they discovered a woman in the passenger seat of one of the vehicles, according to a police report obtained by Mail Sport.
The woman was reportedly ‘exhibiting signs of significant intoxication and lacking clothing from the waist down.’
Dana White said he had no idea whether Jones’ retirement was connected to the legal troubles.
Interestingly, when Fury was previously asked about whether Aspinall would beat Jones, he said: ”Jon Jones is the Tyson Fury of boxing. People are unable to beat him. Very tough one.
‘Even though Tom Aspinall’s a mate, Jon Jones is probably considered the greatest of all time in MMA, so I don’t know.
“It’s probably like, can anyone beat Vladimir Klitschko before Tyson Fury beat him? Probably not, but then Tyson Fury beat him. So if anyone can beat Jon Jones, it’ll be Tom Aspinall. Nobody else.’
