Tom Aspinall is aware of he’s in for a tricky check towards Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes.
On July 27, Aspinall will change into the primary fighter in additional than a decade to defend an interim title. The Salford, England native will put his short-term title up for grabs towards 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 admittedly good, he’s the toughest stylistic matchup within the division for me, and I received’t draw back from that,” Aspinall mentioned on an episode of UFC 304 Countdown.
“Defending a world title in Manchester, that’s what goals are made from, mate. I obtained 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 an announcement by completely working via him” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Except for the devastating knee damage 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 largest 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 compelled 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 exhausting for a unification conflict with Jones. As a substitute, ‘Bones’ will stick 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 no real 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 assume so.
“I wouldn’t be stunned if Curtis received, 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-Help finally ends up with an enormous piece of humble pie. I imply If Sergei can contact Tom that simple, I’m positive Curtis can too.“
