UFC announced heavyweight title fight before Tom Aspinall signed the contract

MMA fans were surprised when Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich were booked on short notice for the UFC interim heavyweight championship, but nobody was caught more off guard than Aspinall himself.

According to the British heavyweight contender, the UFC called him immediately after they heard that Jon Jones suffered an injury, which happened to be at 4 AM. Aspinall claimed he did not even have time to tell anyone about the fight before the promotion made the announcement, including his father, who happens to also be his coach.

In an interview with Mirror Fighting, Tom Aspinall said:

"The UFC called me and I accepted, but they announced it straight away. I thought they would wait until I'd signed the contract but they announced it instantly."

The United Kingdom native continued to say his father was actually 'the last to know' but was happy once he heard the news.

Aspinall continued to say:

"My dad woke up a few hours later and the whole world knew about [the fight with Pavlovich] but he had no idea... Of course, if he'd told me not to do it, I'd have listened but he didn't say that, he said he was happy."

Aspinall will be facing Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 295.

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Tom Aspinall vs Sergei Pavlovich preview

The long-awaited matchup between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich will finally happen at UFC 295 for the right to hold interim gold.

As has been the story of the fight, both men average less than three minutes per fight in the octagon, with Aspinall holding the record for shortest average fight time at 2:19. Pavlovich is third on the list with an average of 2:23 per fight.

With the current status of Jon Jones up in the air, the winner of Saturday's co-main event could find themselves to be the undisputed heavyweight champion in the near future. Jones is not scheduled to return until the middle of 2024 at the earliest but is likely to hunt a re-booking with Stipe Miocic.