Tom Aspinall will look to defend his interim heavyweight title this weekend when the UFC heads to Manchester for UFC 304. The UFC has returned to the UK with a stacked PPV card including two title fights. Due to the UFC being adamant that Jon Jones needs to defend his belt against Stipe Micoic, Tom Aspinall needs to go and defend his Interim heavyweight title.
On top of this fight, the UK crowd will be able to witness Leon Edwards who looks to defend his title against Belal Muhammad. Other fan favorites including Muhammad Mokaev, Paddy Pimblett, and Molly McCann all feature on the card as well. However, the UFC has been criticized for the start time of the event. Even though it is in the UK, the first fight won’t start until 11 pm. This leaves the main event starting around 5 am the next day.
Tom Aspinall Looks For Vengeance Against Curtis Blaydes
Tom Aspinall is fighting back in the UK for the first time since his last visit back in July 2023. This was when Tom Aspinall returned from his knee injury to defeat Marcin Tybura in the first round. Tom Aspinall then went over to the states and won the interim title and was hoping to face Jon Jones and unify the division. However, he has been forced to defend his title in a rematch against Curtis Blaydes. Tom Aspinall is coming in looking to right the wrong from his only defeat in the UFC.
The first fight between these two, only lasted 15 seconds due to Tom Aspinall landing awkwardly and getting injured. However, Curtis Blaydes is a fighter who has to be taken seriously. Curtis Blaydes has been in title consideration for the last four years. He has shared the octagon with some of the best fighters. These have included Francis Ngannou (twice), Derrick Lewis, Junior Dos Santos, Alistar Overeem, and Alexander Volkov. Currently, he is heading into this fight off of a TKO victory over Jailton Almeida back in March. Almeida was able to dominate the entire first round, however, he made a tactical error in the 2nd round. When he was going for a takedown, he left himself open to a series of hammer fists and Curtis Blaydes was able to secure the comeback TKO.
Curtis Blaydes has the ability to cause Tom Aspinall problems heading into this fight. However, Tom Aspinall is the current interim champion due to being able to showcase his talent. He was able to defeat Sergei Pavlovich in the first round. This was when Sergei was thought of being the next big thing and unbeatable. However, Aspinall showed it can be done and has moved forward since this fight this weekend.
Lowest Fight Time
One of the best things to have in the UFC is to have the lowest fight time. That is as long as it is due to you being able to get the victories during these fights. This is exactly what Tom Aspinall has been doing as Aspinall is currently 7-1 in the UFC and the current Interim champion. Tom Aspinall has only seen the 2nd round once and that was when he fought Andrei Arlovski, which only lasted 69 seconds into the second round.
Currently, Tom Aspinall fights last on average 2 minutes and 10 seconds among fighters who have fought at least 5 different times. Despite having such a short fight time, Tom Aspinall says he does train for a full 25-minute fight. However, he can get them out before then. This shows the power he does have in his hands as well as his grappling ability that he doesn’t need more than 3 minutes on average before finishing his opponents. Aspinall will be hoping to keep this trend intact when he faces Blaydes and be able to right the wrong after Blaydes was able to defeat him last time in only 15 seconds.
Tom Aspinall’s UFC Beginning
Tom Aspinall made his UFC debut back in July 2020 when he would go on and face Jake Collier. Collier had multiple fights already in the UFC and Aspinall would get the victory after only 45 seconds when he connected with a right cross. This then set up a fight against Alan Baudot only 3 months later. Just like with Collier, this fight wouldn’t last long with the fight being stopped after only 1 minute and 45 seconds due to ground and pound. This set him up with his biggest test when he took on Andrei Arlovski. Arlovski had 19 wins 13 defeats and 1 no-contest in the UFC making him a veteran and the biggest opponent he had faced so far.
While it was his biggest test, he was still able to get the victory by submitting the veteran in the 2nd round. This was due to a rear naked choke and was the longest fight Tom Aspinall has had in the UFC. Aspinall would then go on to face Serghei Spivac. Spivac would go on to lose in the first round due to elbows and ground strikes.
Tom Aspinall in Recent Years
Tom Aspinall would go on to face Alexander Volkov next. This was another massive fight for the British fighter. However, he made light work when he got the victory due to a straight arm lock in the first round.
Curtis Blaydes would then come across the water to face the Brit and he would be able to leave victorious. This was due to Aspinall’s 15-second knee injury. However, Aspinall would go and heal up, returning to face Marcin Tybura a year later. Tybura would lose in the first round due to a straight right that put him down in just over a minute. This gave Aspinall the chance to claim the UFC Heavyweight Interim title after Jon Jones withdrew from his fight against Stipe Miocic. Aspinall stepped up to face Russian powerhouse Sergei Pavlovich on just two weeks’ notice, and the rest is history. Aspinall would go on to surprise the world when he finished Sergei Pavlovich in the first round due to a right hook and hammer fists.
Tom Aspinall will look to keep the good times coming when he faces Curtis Blaydes this weekend.
Do you think Tom Aspinall will write the next chapter of his story to the top on Saturday night? Or will Curtis Blaydes be able to spoil the party in hostile territory? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image Credit via Embed from Getty Images
