Jon Jones may be teasing a high-profile UFC comeback at the White House, but Tom Aspinall isn’t interested. With a heavyweight championship defense already scheduled, the heavyweight champion has little interest in being drawn into Jones’ hype machine. For the Briton, speculation of a big showdown in front of US President Donald Trump is just noise, and not the kind he’s ready to entertain right now.

Instead, Aspinall is focused on the task at hand: facing Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 on October 25. The bout will be his first defense since being upgraded from interim to undisputed champion following Jon Jones’ retirement in June. While many fans consider the Gane fight as a prelude to a long-awaited showdown with ‘Bones,’ Aspinall has made it clear that he would not let that possibility cloud his preparation.

“Oh, mate, it’s just boring. It’s just so boring. I don’t even have a comment on it,” the heavyweight champion said of Jones’ planned return during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. Tom Aspinall further added, “It has spent zero seconds in my mind. I’m not interested, and the world shouldn’t be interested either, because what’s the point? That’s false hope.”

The Briton further claimed that for now, all of his attention is “micromanaged” toward Gane. He said, “For the next 10 weeks of my life, all I’m thinking about is Ciryl Gane and how to beat him.” But what if he wins? Will he then think about fighting at the White House? Well, not exactly. Tom Aspinall even dismissed the idea of competing on the White House lawn, saying the opportunity should be given to an American fighter instead.

“It doesn’t not interest me, but it doesn’t really interest me,” he told Helwani. “It would be a cool experience, but I feel like the Americans should get the shot at the White House. I’m not American, don’t live there, don’t do anything there apart from paying taxes and fighting there.” For him, the appeal of a historic backdrop does not outweigh sticking to his own priorities.

It remains to be seen whether Jones’s White House dream fight becomes a reality, but one thing is certain after this interview with Ariel Helwani: Tom Aspinall isn’t losing sleep over it. The Briton is focused on Gane, and ‘Bones’ will need to wait until after UFC 321 for his next opportunity. Even so, the British champion may choose to ignore the bait. But what he won’t ignore are the recent comments by coach Fernand Lopez.

Tom Aspinall hits back at Team Ciryl Gane

Fernand Lopez didn’t mince words when weighing in on the brewing tension. The Gane camp’s head coach flatly accused Aspinall of “lying” about the Frenchman turning down many fight offers in the past, dismissing the champion’s claims as false. Lopez also hinted that the actual narrative coming into UFC 321 wasn’t old fight negotiations but the immense pressure Aspinall was now under.

With Jon Jones momentarily out of the picture, the coach predicted that all eyes would be on the new heavyweight champion to deliver a statement victory, and the weight may prove costly. However, Aspinall didn’t seem to be interested in Lopez’s version of the event.

“With all due respect, and I respect coaches so much, especially really high-level coaches. But with all due respect, his opinion is quite irrelevant to the situation,” he said. He further stated that any attempt to portray him as a man collapsing under the spotlight was, at the very least, mistaken.

In fact, Tom Aspinall claimed that he thrived in high-pressure situations. “That’s great because I fight really well under pressure.” For Aspinall, the cage has always been a stage where pressure sharpens, not dulls, his edge. And now, that strength will be challenged at UFC 321, when he faces a former interim champion who, according to Tom Aspinall, has been avoiding him for years.