5 days Ago By James Hicken
Tom Aspinall has inadvertently revealed how much he was paid to be the backup fighter for Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. Aspinall is the current interim UFC heavyweight champion and weighed-in as the backup fighter should either Jones or Miocic pull out at the last minute. To be a backup fighter, you must go through the exact same fight camp and process as if you were going to be fighting on the night and, therefore, must be compensated for the physical and financial commitment.
Tom Aspinall's Vlog From UFC 309 Leaks Payment In a recent vlog posted to YouTube, Aspinall gave a look into the life of a backup fighter on fight night. He had to be ready to fight on as little as a few moments' notice, even as the main card of the fight was underway. “You never know, do you," Aspinall stated.
“We can’t be, we can’t be fighting now, it’s in like three hours.” He openly admitted to struggling with the waiting around as he just wanted to be able to have an alcoholic drink and enjoy the event, but he was not able to do this by order of UFC co-founder Hunter Campbell. Speaking to fellow UFC fighter Dan Ige, Aspinall said “Right, so we’re here in the VIP lounge at MSG, and I’m here with the short-notice man himself, Dan Ige, and we’re talking about fights on short-notice, Dan - am I allowed to have a beer?” Ige famously stepped in at a few hours' notice to fight Diego Lopes at UFC 303.
Aspinall’s thirsted curiosity eventually led to him contacting Hunter Campbell to ask for permission to have a drink with the fight less than two hours away. But it was not to be, as the Mancunian revealed that Campbell had said: “No drinking until they walk out.” At the same time, he flashed his phone screen to the camera and the more observant fans on social media were able to see what exactly had been said between the two, including how much he would be paid for his duties as backup fighter.
At $200,000, it was not surprising that they did not want to risk having an inebriated backup fighter should things go wrong at the last minute. “For $200K, I’d very much appreciate it if he can wait until they [Jones and Miocic] walk,” the text read. “I’d kill myself if I said yes and something went wrong.
” Jon Jones & Tom Aspinall's professional MMA records (as of 17/11/24) Jon Jones Tom Aspinall Fights 30 18 Wins 28 15 Losses 1 3 No contests 1 0 This figure seems like an equitable compensation for Aspinall, who has been through the very same fight camp as both fighters and has played a huge part in the promotion of this fight. Tom Aspinall Desperate For Jon Jones Fight Many believe Aspinall should be the man fighting Jones as the intern in champion and Aspinall has called ‘Bones’ out on many occasions. Jones has, however, consistently discarded these calls for the fight, saying that he does not need to fight people like Aspinall anymore, which has led to many people claiming that he is ducking the Brit because he is a dangerous fight.
Speaking after his win at UFC 309, Jon Jones revealed exactly why he prefers the Alex Pereira fight to the Tom Aspinall fight. Despite being very well paid for his services, Aspinall made it clear that he does not intend on ever being a backup fighter again.“I wouldn’t do it again.
I don’t want to be a backup fighter again. That’s not what I want to do, I want to be defending champion next time. The closer the fight got, the more I was like ‘oh my god what if I’m actually going to have to fight in like a couple of hours.
’ Especially today I was like ‘what if someone pulls out, gets sick or gets injured’ - very stressful to be honest.”.
