Jon Jones’ Disciple Fires Warning Shot at “Non-American” Tom Aspinall Following His Flop Show at UFC 321

Tom Aspinall‘s heavyweight reign just caught extreme heat from an unexpected corner. Fresh off an underwhelming no-contest at UFC 321, the British champion likely never thought that a young gun could raise the question of whether he deserved the UFC’s greatest throne or not.

Aspinall is now reportedly facing a threat from Gable Steveson, who is also Jon Jones’ young training partner. The Manchester native’s nightmare Saturday in Abu Dhabi didn’t just end his fight awkwardly. It opened the door for rising stars like Stevenson to stake their claim while Aspinall was still nursing his eye. 

Jon Jones’ Protégé Wants the Heavyweight Belt Back in America from Tom Aspinall

The timing seemed too perfect to be worse. Aspinall’s title defense ended in disaster when Ciryl Gane accidentally poked him in both eyes with only 30 seconds left in the first round. 

Enter Gable Steveson, the 25-year-old Olympic champion who’s been training with Jon Jones since helping him prepare for UFC 309. Steveson made his MMA debut in September at LFA 217, absolutely mauling Braden Peterson with ground-and-pound in just 98 seconds, with Jones watching from his corner.

Speaking to media at a Dirty Boxing Championship event, he fired shots at the division’s current state. “For the heavyweight division, there needs to be a fresh face. There needs to be an American guy that can go out there and win. My path leads to something bigger, and that’s UFC champion,” Steveson said.

Gable Steveson on becoming a future UFC heavyweight champion

“It’s time. For the heavyweight division there needs to be a fresh face, there needs to be an American guy that can go out there and win. My path leads to something bigger and that’s UFC champion” pic.twitter.com/647dtxknjG

— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) October 29, 2025

Everyone understood his point clearly. The rising MMA gem wants that belt back in American hands, and he’s eyeing Aspinall as the man standing in his way.

Aspinal is getting backlash from everywhere after his flop show at UFC 321. Following the Saturday night spectacle, UFC boss Dana White later questioned whether Aspinall truly couldn’t continue, stating at the post-fight presser that Gane “had Tom bloodied up, and Tom didn’t want to continue in the fight.”

Then “The Bones” updated his social media avatars, adding an eyepatch to his trademark belt-wearing duck, a nod to the same ducking comments he had been accused of during his title reign.

Now Jones’ young gun claims Aspinall doesn’t deserve to be champion. Tom has to prove people wrong, but first he needs to heal from his eye injury. However, tt’s been four days, and he still can only see with one eye.

Tom Aspinall Still Unable to See from Right Eye

Things look really bad for Aspinall. Four days post-fight, his father and head coach Andy Aspinall delivered a devastating update on the fighter’s YouTube channel.

“His right eye, he still can’t see anything. He says it’s just grey. They tested him on words, and he just couldn’t see anything. His left eye, 50 percent. He went down about four letters, then he couldn’t see the letters. So, one’s really, really blurry, and one’s still not working,” Andy said on Tuesday.

Papa Aspinall continued with even more alarming news about potential long-term damage. He added, “It’s a horrendous thing to think of, as a parent. If it was your son, and they could lose an eye, by someone who constantly pokes eyes. Michael Bisping lost his eye.” 

It is hard to remember the last time the MMA community had seen the heavyweight division that vulnerable.  While Aspinall waits for his vision to return, the sharks have already smelled the blood they like, and Stevenson is one of them who represents a new generation of threats. 

But since Aspinall’s UFC deal only lets him fight three times, it’s hard to say if a future match with Stevenson will happen.