UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall has boasted the skills necessary to hang with the best of the best in his division for some time now. However, Aspinall has long been reluctant to boast or brag his way to glory, instead trying to do things the old-fashioned way.
A disastrous knee injury sustained last year fighting Curtis Blaydes changed things, and following his comeback on Saturday night in London, Aspinall laid out his plan for glory. Aspinall, appearing on The MMA Hour, revealed that the credit for his plan of attack should go to former UFC champ and fellow Englishman Michael Bisping.
UFC Heavyweight Tom Aspinall’s Trajectory To The Top
“I’m going to partially put the blame on Michael Bisping for this one, because Michael Bisping told me that you should always try and fight the guy who just fought for a title and lost it.
That’s what the people want to seem because he’s like the next best in line. So I thought Ciryl Gane just fought for the title, lost it. If he wins. That would be perfect.”
Aspinall has not made a habit of calling fighters out, and the softly-spoken heavyweight admits that he’s new to the microphone. “I’m new to this calling out people stuff.
It’s not usually my style. I’m just trying to get myself a fight. I’m trying to secure the next move, and people wanted to hear it. People went wild when I started doing that. People were loving it.
I would definitely agree with that [idea that Pavlovich makes more sense]. I see exactly what you mean, and I’m not disputing that you’re right. I’m just saying that for whatever reason, that was fresh on my mind for the week.
But, you know, the way I see it, we’re all going to fight each other anyway. Like, we’re all young-ish guys around our prime before. I think I’m way before my prime, personally.”
Aspinall wants to take on the winner of Ciryl Gane vs. Serghei Spivak, which will take place in Paris this September. He wants to be ringside at the event and invade the cage while he’s at it. “All week when I was in London, there was just a lot of talk about UFC Paris.
So, it’s kind of fresh on my mind. … I was doing my thing for [UFC U.K. broadcast parter] BT sport, now I’m hoping to do more things for TNT Sport. So I was thinking, ours is European show. TNT sport are going to be there. I want to do the pundit stuff again. I’m going to be there.
Why not make a bit of a scene and throw me in the cage after, and we’ll have a little bit of a standoff for the crowd. I thought that would be a lot of fun. That’s what I was thinking, to be honest with you.”
