Tom Aspinall has made his intentions clear ahead of his UFC 304 co-main event bout against Curtis Blaydes, looking to deliver an “absolutely outrageous first round knockout.”
The 31-year-old gets his long awaited rematch against Blaydes to the Co-op Arena, Manchester on July 27, as the UFC return to the UK with a stacked card. The first time the two met ended in tragedy for Aspinall, tearing his MCL just 15 seconds into the bout.
The interim Heavyweight champion joined TalkSPORT MMA’s YouTube channel to discuss all things UFC 304. Aspinall will be sharing the card on July 27 with two of his team mates, in the form of unbeaten Heavyweight Mick Parkin and Light Heavyweight Modestas Bukauskas. All three men have been working tirelessly ahead of fight night, something Aspinall has enjoyed immensely. He said:
“I love that, to be honest. I really love that you feel like that you're almost like on a mission together. The you know, you've got this mission coming up on the 27th of July where all the show up is going to be. Guys flew in to fight in our home country and we've got to defend what we're all about, you know?
“I love that stuff and I'm really looking forward to it, and both guys are looking great as well. Mick actually has the longest winning streak in the heavyweight division believe it or not so Mick is flying and he's got another good fight coming up that he can win. Modestas is looking great, too, and I'm really looking forward to it.”
Although the first fight did not go the way Aspinall envisioned, and he is all to aware of the unpredictability of the sport, the Brit is confident he is going to be able to go in there and even the score on fight night. He said:
“You never know, Heavyweight MMA is crazy. You absolutely never know. We're prepared for the worst, as always. Prepared for the worst, expecting the best. I'm going to try and knock his head off, is what I'm going to try and do. That's my goal, by winning with an absolutely outrageous first round knockout and my hand getting raised, that's the goal always so that's what I'm going to be looking to do!”
Following Alex Pereira’s stunning second round knockout over Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303 last weekend, the discussion as to whether the former Middleweight and current Light Heavyweight champion could do the unthinkable and achieve a third world championship up at Heavyweight.
Although full of respect for the things that Pereira has achieved in his short UFC tenure, Aspinall admitted he would be very much up for a fight against ‘Poatan’. On the potential match up, he said:
“I mean as we've seen with me, I'm not shying away from anybody. So if the UFC want to do that, I'm more than happy to do it. I think as an elite level fighter myself, you can't help but be impressed with what Alex Pereira's done over the past couple years. You know what I mean?
“At this time, few years ago, no one knew he was and now he's like one of the biggest stars in MMA; one of the best fighters in UFC history and I really, really respect what he's done. Does that mean I don't want to fight him? No. I absolutely want to fight him, but I'm sure there'll be a time and a place for it.
“I'm not jumping ahead of things right now, I’m fighting Curtis Blaydes now and if that's what the UFC want to do one day then we will absolutely do it.”
You can watch the whole TalkSport interview, below:
