British UFC star Tom Aspinall warns Jon Jones about heavyweight move as ‘Bones’ prepares for Stipe Miocic vs Francis Ngannou II winner

Tom Aspinall is waiting to see how Jon Jones carries the extra weight at heavyweight before casting judgement on the pound-for-pound great.

‘Bones’ relinquished his light-heavyweight title last summer to pursue a second world title in the company’s blue ribbon division.

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A swift search of social media gives fans an insight into the heavy lifting and intense weight work the 33-year-old is undertaking before making his debut as a heavyweight.

Despite standing comfortably at 6ft 4ins, Jones and his team at Jackson Wink MMA are more than aware of the dangers posed by the likes of Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic due to their far weightier frames.

With Dana White guaranteeing Jones a shot at the winner of their rematch at UFC 260, the youngest champion in UFC history knows he must bulk up sensibly before being pitted against either behemoth.

However Aspinall, who returns to action this weekend against former champion Andrei Arlovski, was quick to offer a word of warning to the latest entrant to the shark tank that is the UFC heavyweight division.

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He told talkSPORT.com: “He’s cleared out the light-heavyweight division hasn’t he, so maybe he is looking for other challenges?

“I’m interested to see how he looks with all that extra weight on him because a lot of these light-heavyweights think they can come up and just think ‘oh these guys are slow and they’re not as skilful’.

“But when you’re carrying that extra weight it makes a big difference as well, so I am looking forward to seeing how he looks at heavyweight. I’d be very interested in that.”

The 27-year-old from Atherton made a blistering start to his UFC career, earning consecutive first round finishes to earn himself a shot at former champion Arlovski.

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Although the veteran may no longer be the same indominable force he once was when he beat Tim Sylvia back in 2005, the Belarusian is still a legitimate name in the heavyweight division.

Both Miocic and Ngannou had to get through the 42-year-old to break into the upper echelons of the division, with Aspinall confident in his ability and progression thus far as he prepares to face a man with almost five times as many professional fights as himself.

“I think it has gone as planned, to be honest,” he continued. “I think it is perfect because I’ve had two short fights and no one has seen anything close to what I can do yet so I’m still a little bit of a mystery to everyone.

“So that’s nice and the more quick fights I can have, the better really because that means it is going to take even longer for these guys to even start to figure me out.

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“I’ve got a lack of experience to most fighters in general because I have not really had a lot of time in the cage at all.

“But I’ve been doing sparring and martial arts as a high level for a long time, but sparring and fighting is different.

“That’s why I say I’m trying to take my time and do it slowly rather than getting rushed through this thing so I’m just going to pick my experience up when it comes really.”