With a host of highlight-reel performances against the Heavyweight division’s cream of the crop such as Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov, and Sergei Pavlovich, Tom Aspinall has easily embarked on one of the most meteoric rises in UFC history. With all but one of his promotional victories coming in the first round, many were already touting that the Englander would be fighting for 265-lb. gold at some point.
At UFC 295, Aspinall lived up to those lofty expectations by starching the aforementioned Pavlovich in the very first round to claim the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship, becoming only the third English fighter to win a UFC title. For all his accomplishments thus far, however, there is still one slight blemish on Aspinall’s rise to near the top of the division, that being a TKO loss to perennial top contender Curtis Blaydes, after blowing out his knee while kicking his American foe in the leg.
At UFC 304, Aspinall finally had the chance to undo the only setback he had faced so far in the promotion when he went head-to-head with “Razor” for a second time in the co-main event of the spectacular Manchester card. With the crowd firmly behind him, the interim champion set out to defend his belt for the very first time and right the mistakes of the past on the biggest stage mixed martial arts has to offer.
Aspinall Goes Undefeated Ahead of UFC Call-Up
After a stellar amateur career, where he went a perfect 5-0, with four first round finishes, Aspinall made his professional debut a few weeks before Christmas in December 2014 at MMA Versus UK.
This event, ironically enough, also took place in Manchester, and had him billed as the co-main event, almost a full ten years before he competed at UFC 304 as one of his country’s biggest homegrown stars. It didn’t take the future phenom very long to announce his presence on the English circuit, as Aspinall made extremely short work of his opponent, Michał Piszczek, finishing the bout by strikes in just 20 seconds.
Fast-forwarding to 2019, he now had racked up a great record of 7-2, with all of his wins coming in the first round. He had even taken a boxing match in 2017, which he won by knockout in just a little over a minute.
This streak of superb finishes eventually attracted the attention of the UFC, who signed Aspinall in mid 2020 amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic. He made his debut at UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs Till in July, of that year. where he continued his round one finishing ways by defeating Jake Collier in 45 seconds by TKO.
UFC Winning Streak Leads to First Fight vs. Blaydes
Making good on his first UFC appearance, Aspinall swiftly rose through the heavyweight ranks, winning his next four fights in a row over Alan Baudot, Andrei Arlovski, Serghei Spivac, and Alexander Volkov. This string of wins eventually led him to cross paths with one the best contenders at 265 lbs., Curtis Blaydes, in a main event matchup at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs Aspinall on July 23, 2022.
Sadly, the contest would end in utterly unfortunate fashion when Aspinall suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds in following him kicking Blaydes in the thigh, leading to the Englishman to fall onto his back writhing in pain. The loss marked the first for Aspinall in his short UFC career, as well as his first since 2016.
Aspinall Rides the Bench Due To Injury and Scores Interim Title After Return
While fans around the world eagerly awaited news of his return, the injury left a lasting effect on Aspinall. In fact, he later went on to comment that it actually made him seriously consider retiring from the sport. Fortunately he ultimately decided to continue fighting and made his highly-anticipated return almost exactly a year later against Marcin Tybura, whom Aspinall dominantly starched with another patented first-round finish.
After more than a year on the sidelines, England’s top heavyweight had returned in full force, cementing his place among the top strikers on the planet. However, the greatest test of Aspinall’s UFC tenure would come in December when he elected to take a short-notice fight at UFC 295.
There, he battled the 265-lb. division’s most feared knockout artist, Sergei Pavlovich, for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship following a sudden shake up of the card due to Jon Jones having to drop from his bout against Stipe Miocic.
In the wake of Francis Ngannou’s departure from the promotion, the Russian bruiser had taken up the mantle of being arguably the hardest hitter on the UFC roster, with Pavlovich having scored six consecutive first-round knockouts since losing his debut to Alistair Overeem. This horrifying reputation of intimidating finishes would haunt Aspinall going into the contest, so much so that he even commented just how scared he was of Pavlovich in an interview leading up to the event.
With bated breath, the MMA community eagerly waited for the cage doors to close in order to watch two of the most dangerous men in the sport tear into one another. In the early goings, it looked as if the Russian had Aspinall in trouble when he landed a solid straight mere seconds into the fight.
He ate the shot well, however, and responded with his own straight punch that landed flush on Pavlovich’s temple, rocking him. It was all the Englishman needed, as Aspinall quickly pounced with another thunderous right hand that put his opponent straight onto the mat. He then followed up with several more hard blows before the referee called a stop to the bout, making Aspinall the new UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion.
A Date with “Bones” Jones Goes Unrealized
Having gotten his hands on the interim championship, there was logically only one obstacle left for Aspinall to conquer before he could legitimately call himself the Baddest Man on the Planet, the incumbent 265-lb. king, Jon Jones. Sadly, Jones, and even company president Dana White, had remained steadfast in making the Miocic super fight happen.
This led to the newly-minted champion being out of action for eight months until he got the call to defend his strap against the only man to ever defeat him over the course of his UFC run, Curtis Blaydes. The fight took place at UFC 304, with Aspinall taking center stage yet again in the co-main event versus “Razor”.
Aspinall Gets Revenge on Blaydes
Standing across from the last fighter to beat him, the interim champion had a lot riding on this contest: if he won, then it would only further his argument to being the next one to challenge Jones for the undisputed belt. If he came up short against Blaydes again, though, then that argument would disappear entirely, squashing any and all hopes that Aspinall had of testing himself against the consensus greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
The 31-year-old had a lot to lose on that early morning in Manchester and little to gain, but that still didn’t stop him from going out and blasting Blaydes with a monstrous jab and a storm of ground strikes in exactly one minute to notch his first title defense in glorious fashion.
In front of his hometown, Aspinall had finally avenged his only UFC setback, and in his post-fight interview, he made it known that he had only one man on his mind for whom he wanted to share the cage with next: Jones. In some capacity, Dana White confirmed this when he announced at the post-event press conference that Aspinall would ultimately serve as the backup fighter for the speculated Jones vs Miocic clash later in 2024.
Although that fight still has yet to be made official at the time of this writing, there can be absolutely no denying now that Tom Aspinall has more than earned his opportunity to vie for the undisputed championship.
