Tom Aspinall knows his UFC London main event against Curtis Blaydes will be a tough one.
Aspinall is coming off the biggest win of his career as he submitted Alexander Volkov in the first round back in March in London. He will now have to face Blaydes who is a tough matchup for anyone in the division given his wrestling pedigree and for Aspinall, he believes ‘Razor’ is the toughest matchup for him in the entire division.
“Curtis Blaydes is probably the toughest fight in the division for me stylistically,” Aspinall said on The MMA Hour. “But I’m okay with that because that pushes me to a whole new level. That pushes me to levels I’ve never been before, and that’s what I need. If I’m with someone that’s going to make me comfortable, I’m going to stay exactly where I am and do the exact same work that I’ve been doing.
“If you’re going to give me someone that I think is a scary fight and you’re going to give me fear, you don’t want to see me scared, because I end up doing stuff like I did in the O2 the time I fought. I end up doing some crazy stuff that I’ve never done before. So me with a massive fight with a really tough guy, that’s dangerous. That’s dangerous for any heavyweight.”
Although it is a tough fight for Tom Aspinall, it is ht necessary step in his career. Should the Brit get his hand raised in front of his hometown crowd he will immediately be in title contention at heavyweight. However, he says he can’t think about that, as for now, the focus is on July 23 in London and having to face Blaydes.
“I’m not even interested in it,” Aspinall said. “I’m not. I never thought that I was going to be talking about a title after five UFC fights, six UFC fights. I feel like I’ve got more work to do. I’ve got a lot more work to do, more proving. I don’t want to be one of these people who gets here by talking. That is not me.”