Do you agree that Tom Aspinall can't be a big star because he will never be able to be a two division champ?

[Joshua8531]

The problem right now with the HW division is that it's very uncompetitive outside of 2 or 3 matches. Jones has easily beat Gane, Aspinall has beaten every contender (bar Gane) so far. He is stuck in the division because he's too big to move down a weight, so he has no option but to fight what the HW has to offer, which isn't much outside of Jones, and potentially Gane. All the biggest stars in the UFC are in lower weight divisions and can or have moved up to fight the big names. Jones was able to move up to HW to achieve double champ status. Conor was able to do the same. Topuria is hoping to do the same by jumping up to LW. Pereira was able to do the same by leaving MW to go up to LHW. Tom, unfortunately, is stuck where he is and therefore will struggle to ever be a big star for this reason. There aren't the names at HW for him to become a big star like there are at the lower weights. What are your thoughts?

It's been a joke this whole time. Everyone knows these facts defending consistently is more important than moving up. They used it as a cheat card for Mcgregor with zero title defences and they tried the same with IA. Zero risk involved something to just sell the casual's on.

The GOATS of the sport always have stayed in 1 division and just wrecked it. Not including the GOATS from Pride which was a completely different era.

As for the post the reason fans hate the HW division is because there is no movement. Come back to MMA eventually after the NHL playoffs are concluded.

 

[Luthien]

the double champ stuff is so cringe now

I would be way more impressed with a champ that's got 10+ defenses or something

 

[mkt]

Aspinall's problem is the HW division is basically already cleared by him besides Jones/Almeida/Gane. So after those 3 fights he has to fight Lewis/Tuivasa type HWs. Maybe UFC can get Bader or Nemkov, but still it's not like there are tons of names for him to be great. Ngannou made a name from just KOing everyone, Aspinall doesn't have that same backstory and power though.

Bader is 41 and got finished like 5 times in his first UFC stint...in his prime...at LHW. He wouldn't earn a title shot. Someone like Lewis or Pavlovich would decapitate him first.

 

[mkt]

No one has ever demanded that HWs be multiple weight class champs... not in boxing or MMA. Sugar Ray Leonard was an incredible boxer who won multiple weight class titles and is pretty well known...but not a household name like Muhammad Ali, Foreman or Tyson.

 

[mkt]

Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey as well. Big stars never switched division.

Honda is going to come back and clean up several of the women's divisions. Just wait...

 

[WildShrimper]

I think he’s just a flash in the pan that no one will be talking about in five years.

Well, the way that this situation is being handled that could be possible, dude is wasting PRIME YEARS, he's 32 already and has been interim champion for almost 2 fuckin years. Jones needs to fight the interim champ.

 

[orca]

win a title and defend it like gsp anderson and jones did

doesnt matter who you are if you can do it you can be very popular

 

[muaythaibeast]

Aspinall's problem is the HW division is basically already cleared by him besides Jones/Almeida/Gane. So after those 3 fights he has to fight Lewis/Tuivasa type HWs. Maybe UFC can get Bader or Nemkov, but still it's not like there are tons of names for him to be great. Ngannou made a name from just KOing everyone, Aspinall doesn't have that same backstory and power though.

You'd hope something will come up by the time he's won those 3 fights, possibly Tallison Texeira, but it doesn't look great.

 

[muaythaibeast]

The competition been on his level shouldn't be a major issue. If he can string together 5+ title defences in dominant position, which he should do easily, then that should be enough to create a star.
A lot of the competition Silva faced wasn't the highest quality, but the way he beat them made him the biggest name in the sport at the time.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I would be way more impressed with a champ that's got 10+ defenses or something

Very true, totally agree with you. The superfight double champ is such a flash in the pan, none of them will reign for long, will be forgot about rather quickly

 

[Ginja_Ninja]

I don't think it made the former double champs a bigger star.

Connor, GSP, DC, BJ, Randy, Alex were all huge starts before won the second.

Nobody cared about Henry before nor after his 2.

 

[kirsky]

Excuse me?. HW is queen of all weight divisions, the hell are you talking about, not to mention breating JJ would add a lot of star power to Aspinal legacy. Crazy what people can cook up on sherdog these days. Some wanted to strip DDP after hearing rumors about his injury ( muslims these days )...

 

[JustforBROCK]

*sigh* hard to believe fans are this ignorant.

 

[Tweak896]

Tom generates power in small spaces and with more precision than Ngannou. He doesn't have that utterly freakish power that absolutely comatoses guys immediately like Ngannou, but he makes up for it with better speed and accuracy. And if the power is enough to put any HW away (which it is), I'm not sure the power difference is all that important.

The UFC just needs to force Jones to decide if he's unifying or vacating. Then we can see just what kind of a run Aspinall is capable of and how big a star he can potentially be.

Tom probably could be better than Ngannou on paper and accomplishments, the thing is I don't know how well he'll sell. People come for the circus sometimes and Tom is a guy with solid striking skills. I feel like he has more an aura than someone like Stipe and he can definitely headline UK cards against anyone after he becomes champ.

Bader is 41 and got finished like 5 times in his first UFC stint...in his prime...at LHW. He wouldn't earn a title shot. Someone like Lewis or Pavlovich would decapitate him first.

Bader hasn't looked great at HW unless he fights some HW with zero wrestling, even still he got chinned by Renan who had zero wrestling really. UFC needs to just allow HWs to use PEDs and put Pride stipulations in their contracts.

You'd hope something will come up by the time he's won those 3 fights, possibly Tallison Texeira, but it doesn't look great.

Yeah it's pretty scary for HW after Jones/Aspinall, just a barren field. Even if Jones wins it's going to be hard to sell some of those fights.

 

[mkess101]

Tom probably could be better than Ngannou on paper and accomplishments, the thing is I don't know how well he'll sell. People come for the circus sometimes and Tom is a guy with solid striking skills. I feel like he has more an aura than someone like Stipe and he can definitely headline UK cards against anyone after he becomes champ.



Bader hasn't looked great at HW unless he fights some HW with zero wrestling, even still he got chinned by Renan who had zero wrestling really. UFC needs to just allow HWs to use PEDs and put Pride stipulations in their contracts.


Yeah it's pretty scary for HW after Jones/Aspinall, just a barren field. Even if Jones wins it's going to be hard to sell some of those fights.

The sport is kinda starved for stars right now. And whatever you wanna say about the UFC, their marketing machine is first rate.

If Tom (and this is not a given, even if it's likely) keeps ko'ing everyone at HW he WILL become a true star. Dominant HW's that KO everyone are easy to market and the UFC will start pushing him if he takes over the division. He has to do his part and continue to dominate obviously, but IF he does, there's no question he becomes a household name. Not Conor or even Rousey level maybe, but big.

 

[KungFuCow]

If Jon will ever fight him and Tom wins, the UFC can put the full PR machine behind him and make him a huge star. Now if the duck will ever step up.

 

[Tweak896]

The sport is kinda starved for stars right now. And whatever you wanna say about the UFC, their marketing machine is first rate.

If Tom (and this is not a given, even if it's likely) keep ko'ing everyone at HW he WILL become a true star. Dominant HW's that KO everyone are easy to market and the UFC will start pushing him if he takes over the division. He has to do his part and continue to dominate obviously, but IF he does, there's no question he becomes a household name. Not Conor or even Rousey level maybe, but big.

Yeah, his finishes before Pav/Blaydes were a little weaker with less killer instinct, but he recently looks like a killer.

Just finding gifs of the finish before his last 2 fights were kind of difficult, where Ngannou decapitating everyone you can find plenty even until today. Can't even find the Arlovski finish or the actual final finish sequence against Volkov or Spivac.

KazDibase gifs seemingly were taken down and not reuploaded or easy to find. Pretty funny reading comments on the gif threads back before this Jones fight.

Tybura: basically people acting like it was expected not really going crazy for what he did
Volkove: people saying how Ngannou dusts Aspinall, atleast Aspinall got the W, talking about how weak HW is, basically a short thread
Spivak: people talking about how Spivac was a last minute opponent and no one is blown away
Arlovski: nothing but people saying Arlovski needs to retire mostly

It's kind of crazy how 1st Blaydes fight and earlier how meh everyone was on Aspinall here was on him and his finishes, even hardcores here no one was really losing it to his finishes until Pavlovich KO. Every fight beforehand was basically a luke warm performance with little reaction.

Sorry went down the rabbit hole of checking out sherdog on Aspinall before Pav KO and it's wild to see how indifferent everyone is.

 

[mkess101]

Yeah, his finishes before Pav/Blaydes were a little weaker with less killer instinct, but he recently looks like a killer.

Just finding gifs of the finish before his last 2 fights were kind of difficult, where Ngannou decapitating everyone you can find plenty even until today. Can't even find the Arlovski finish or the actual final finish sequence against Volkov or Spivac.

KazDibase gifs seemingly were taken down and not reuploaded or easy to find. Pretty funny reading comments on the gif threads back before this Jones fight.

Tybura: basically people acting like it was expected not really going crazy for what he did
Volkove: people saying how Ngannou dusts Aspinall, atleast Aspinall got the W, talking about how weak HW is, basically a short thread
Spivak: people talking about how Spivac was a last minute opponent and no one is blown away
Arlovski: nothing but people saying Arlovski needs to retire mostly

It's kind of crazy how 1st Blaydes fight and earlier how meh everyone was on Aspinall here was on him and his finishes, even hardcores here no one was really losing it to his finishes until Pavlovich KO. Every fight beforehand was basically a luke warm performance with little reaction.

Sorry went down the rabbit hole of checking out sherdog on Aspinall before Pav KO and it's wild to see how indifferent everyone is.

IMO people see what they wanna see to a degree. I wasn't completely sold on Aspinall at first, but mainly because I hadn't seen a lot of him. But even in these gifs, his skills are pretty obvious. He moves like a welterweight at 255 lbs. He hits guys because they just aren't used to having a HW get their hands to those spots as quickly as they get there. He knifed through Volkov so easily on the mat, kind of bizarre if people weren't impressed much.

The HW division is clearly kinda weak right now, so of course we have to have some context. But the guy is fighting nothing but top 10 (recently top 5) guys and nobody can make it out of rd 1 with him. Anyone who isnt impressed imo...its because they are CHOOSING to ignore what they're seeing.

 

[Tweak896]

IMO people see what they wanna see to a degree. I wasn't completely sold on Aspinall at first, but mainly because I hadn't seen a lot of him. But even in these gifs, his skills are pretty obvious. He moves like a welterweight at 255 lbs. He hits guys because they just aren't used to having a HW get their hands to those spots as quickly as they get there. He knifed through Volkov so easily on the mat, kind of bizarre if people weren't impressed much.

The HW division is clearly kinda weak right now, so of course we have to have some context. But the guy is fighting nothing but top 10 (recently top 5) guys and nobody can make it out of rd 1 with him. Anyone who isnt impressed imo...its because they are CHOOSING to ignore what they're seeing.

I think beforehand most people her placed their bets on Pavlovich because he was taking guys out left and right, so they didn't put much stock into the guy. Then after Tom beat him Pavlovich fans transferred over to Tom lol.

 

[mkess101]

I think beforehand most people her placed their bets on Pavlovich because he was taking guys out left and right, so they didn't put much stock into the guy. Then after Tom beat him Pavlovich fans transferred over to Tom lol.

I made a good profit betting Aspinall vs Pav. Speed kills. Can't coach it.