Tom Aspinall says he’s a mystery to the rest of the heavyweight division as he hasn’t shown any of his skills.
Aspinall is set to headline UFC London against sixth-ranked, Alexander Volkov in a rather intriguing matchup. It serves as Aspinall’s fifth UFC fight but the longest he has gone was just over a minute into the second round. With that, he says the heavyweight division doesn’t know anything about him.
“These heavyweights think they know about me, but they don’t know sh*t,” Aspinall said at media day. “Obviously I feel I’m ready for (anyone), so here we are. Moving forward and moving up in the world hopefully.”
Entering the fight, many seem to think Tom Aspinall needs to finish Alexander Volkov if he’s going to win the fight. However, he says that isn’t the case as he knows he has the cardio to go five rounds and can beat anyone.
Ultimately, Aspinall says his confidence has only grown throughout this training camp and knows if he fights to his capability he can beat anyone in the world.
“I got to the UFC and I used to think, ‘Oh these guys are so (good).’ They’re not, mate,” Aspinall said. “They’re another guy in front of you having another fight with a pair of gloves on, and I’m going to treat it that way. Don’t get me wrong: I took Volkov more serious than I took anyone else.”
“But at the end of the day, he’s another guy across from me with a pair of gloves on. Same as anybody else. If I go in there and do me and I have fun, I can beat anyone in the world. If I go in there and overthink it and try to work to a strategy and do everything perfect, I can lose. So I’m just going to go in there and have the time of my life.”
Should Aspinall win he could very well be a win away from a potential title shot at heavyweight.