When Jon Jones returned following a three-year layoff to win the heavyweight title in 2023, fans were hoping to see him stay active as a defending champion. But he fought once last year against former 2-time champion Stipe Miocic, and in 2025, it’s unclear if he’ll be fighting this year. With calls mounting for Jones to fight interim champion Tom Aspinall to unify the titles, Dana White still hasn’t given any indication as to when that fight will materialize.

But while Jon Jones has been away from the fight game, he added another record to his name despite having fought twice in the last 24 months. It turns out that ‘Bones’ is now the second-longest reigning heavyweight champion in UFC history, second only to the legendary Cain Velasquez. To be exact, Jones surpassed Stipe Miocic’s 784-day reign on 27th April, when he recorded 785 days as champion. When it comes to the longest one, Velasquez held the title for a whopping 896 days.

Can Jon Jones stay champion for another hundred days? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Tom Aspinall also made history. The English star is not very fond of being the interim champion, because he’s hellbent on becoming the undisputed champion. But even though some people feel Jones’s time off is the reason that Aspinall hasn’t become the undisputed champion yet, the 32-year-old created a record as the interim title holder.

Tom Aspinall may not celebrate this achievement as much as he would have if he had the undisputed title with him, but he’s now the longest-reigning interim champion in the history of Dana White’s promotion. He recently surpassed Renan Barão‘s record of 534 days, and now his reign stands at 535 days as champion.

Well, that’s not a bad record to have in the UFC, but Tom Aspinall definitely wants more. He may never be able to match the legacy with Jon Jones, but he can become the best heavyweight in the current era, and he spoke about that during an interview last month. Here’s what he had to say.

It’s not about Jon Jones, claims Tom Aspinall

In one of his YouTube videos, Tom Aspinall claimed that he was “chasing” the fight against Jon Jones, and had multiple conversations with the UFC regarding it. But later on, he cleared it out that the undisputed champion is the reason the fight’s in an uncertain state, and if ‘Bones’ doesn’t want to fight him, which is the opposite of what the UFC wants, he has no problems with it because he’s eyeing the title.

“The UFC really, really want the fight to happen… One thing that I want to be really clear on, I am only fighting for the undisputed title,” Tom Aspinall told ‘MMA Fighting’. “That’s my only discrepancy. I will fight absolutely anyone. We can look through my record. You can speak to any promoter that I’ve ever worked with, UFC or otherwise. I have absolutely never turned down a fight in my life.”

That might be a sensible move since Tom Aspinall would not want to sit out at an age when he’s in the prime of his life. Moreover, UFC legend Georges St-Pierre has also suggested that the English star not stay fixated on fighting Jon Jones, which he claims is just a distraction from what he really needs to do. “I think Tom, he needs to focus on the next task. And if he is only focusing on Jon Jones, and if Jon Jones does not come back right away, he’s not focusing on the right thing. He needs to focus on what is next, the next path,” ‘GSP’ told Ariel Helwani.

Coming back to Tom Aspinall’s record-breaking stat, what are your thoughts on this front? Let us know in the comments down below.