Tom Aspinall is aware of he’s in for a troublesome check in opposition to Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes.
On July 27, Aspinall will develop into the primary fighter in additional than a decade to defend an interim title. The Salford, England native will put his momentary title up for grabs in opposition to the one man to have handed him a loss contained in the Octagon at UFC 304 in Manchester.
Although their first assembly solely lasted 15 seconds, Aspinall acknowledges that stylistically, Blaydes is the hardest matchup on the market for him at heavyweight.
“Curtis is basically good, he’s the toughest stylistic matchup within the division for me, and I gained’t shrink back from that,” Aspinall mentioned on an episode of UFC 304 Countdown.
“Defending a world title in Manchester, that’s what desires are made from, mate. I acquired into this sport to have nights like this. UFC 304, I’m coming in there to complete the combat from the primary bell, I need to make a press release by completely working via him” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Except for the devastating knee harm that took him out of his inaugural assembly with ‘Razor’ in 2022, Tom Aspinall is ideal contained in the Octagon, scoring seven wins on MMA’s greatest stage with a 100% end fee that features 5 KOs and two submissions.
Tom Aspinall isn’t ready round for Jon Jones
In November, Aspinall stepped into the co-main occasion highlight at Madison Sq. Backyard to problem Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title after undisputed king Jon Jones was pressured out of his beforehand scheduled scrap with Stipe Miocic as a consequence of a torn pectoral.
It solely took Aspinall 69 seconds to flatline Pavlovich.
Within the months since, Aspinall lobbied arduous for a unification conflict with Jones. As a substitute, ‘Bones’ will keep on with his plan of going through the consensus heavyweight GOAT earlier than even contemplating a combat with Aspinall — or Blaydes relying on how issues go down this Saturday.
After sitting on the sidelines for a yr whereas his knee healed, Tom Aspinall had little interest in ready round for Jones any longer. Now the query is, can he make it previous one of many heaviest hitters within the division? ‘Bones’ definitely doesn’t appear to suppose so.
“I wouldn’t be stunned if Curtis gained, I’ve seen situations like this time and time once more,” Jones wrote in response to a fan on X. “Dude prematurely ingesting his personal Kool-Support finally ends up with an enormous piece of humble pie. I imply If Sergei can contact Tom that straightforward, I’m positive Curtis can too.“
