Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has some clear advice for Tom Aspinall if he wants to follow in his footsteps of being the division’s undisputed pacesetter.

Miocic returned from an extended layoff late last year to unsuccessfully challenge Jon Jones in a bid to become the heavyweight frame’s first-ever three-time champion, losing by third round TKO in the UFC 309 main event inside Madison Square Garden.

Englishman Aspinall has been actively campaigning for a showdown with Jones ever since he won the interim heavyweight crown a year prior in November 2023 — but if and when the Jones vs. Aspinall fight takes place, Miocic says that the challenger has all the tools to upset the champion.

But having said that, he warned Aspinall not to repeat his own mistakes in the cage against Jones.

“Don’t do what I did,” Miocic joked to The Schmo, as noted by Bloody Elbow.

“Tom is super tough and he hits hard, moves well, he’s a big man,” he added. “If he stays calm under the situation and whatever happens, he just stays calm, I think he’ll be fine. If he picks his shots and he’s smart with what he does, I think he’ll do fine.”

The prospect of a Jones vs. Aspinall fight threatens to be one of 2025’s most defining narratives in mixed martial arts. UFC boss Dana White said last year that he was “100 percent” confident that the fight would become a reality but more recently suggested that Jones would likely be stripped of the champion and replaced by Aspinall if the bout is not arranged by a suitable date.

For his part, Jones has said that he would require a career-high payday to fight Aspinall and has suggested he would prefer so-called ‘legacy fights’ at this stage of his career, name-checking the likes of Alex Pereira and even Derrick Lewis as preferred options over the Briton.