Tom Aspinall needed just 60 seconds to dispatch Curtis Blaydes and erase the only loss on his resume as he defended his interim heavyweight title in the UFC 304 co-main event.
Now to be fair, Aspinall’s “loss” was him blowing out his knee just 15 seconds into the opening round in his first meeting against Blaydes but the rematch didn’t go much longer. This time around it was Aspinall popping Blaydes in the mush with a straight left followed by a right hook behind it that put the former collegiate wrestler down on the canvas.
From there, Aspinall just unloaded right hands in rapid fire fashion with referee Marc Goddard rushing in to stop the fight before Blaydes could absorb any more punishment. The end came at just 1:00 into the fight.
“What a human being this guy is,” Aspinall said about Blaydes. “I had nothing against him personally but we needed to put that one to bed. I got my revenge, thank god. I’m the best finisher in the UFC. If I smell blood, you’re done.”
To his credit, Aspinall did have to deal with some slight adversity after Blaydes caught him with a punch in an early exchange but truth be told, the British born heavyweight was never in any real trouble.
Aspinall did briefly look for the clinch before separating and resetting on his feet as he looked like the faster and more accurate striker. As soon as Blaydes stepped into throw a punch, Aspinall met him with the straight left and the short right behind it that spelled the beginning of the end.
The combination sat Blaydes down and Aspinall just unleashed a flurry of shots until the referee stopped it. Blaydes seemed to protest the stoppage briefly but replays showed him eating numerous punches with no signs of escaping, which is why Goddard called it off.
With the win, Aspinall firmly establishes himself as interim champion but will he ever get a chance to unify the belts? That’s obviously what he wants next.
“I just spoke to the boss man, who wants to see Tom Aspinall versus Jon Jones?” Aspinall shouted. “Hello Jon, I have nothing against you personally but I think I’m better than you.”
Jones is currently expected to clash with Stipe Miocic in November and then there’s no telling if he’ll accept Aspinall’s challenge. With or without that fight, Aspinall has clearly done more than enough to stake his claim as the best heavyweight in the UFC.
