Francis Ngannou (prime) vs Tom Aspinall

[Luffy]

I consider prime Ngannou as the one who beat Stipe Miocic, 2021 iirc.

How do you think it'd go against current Tom Aspinall?

My prediction is one of them would be KO'd in the first round or second round lulz... I don't see it going the distance.

 

[davidlemonparty]

HW is never certain
But on that specific night, I believe there were zero persons on earth that could have defeated Mr Ngannou

 

[loisestrad]

I always love it when a fighters "prime" is reduced to one fight. As if the concept of "prime" could be reduced to one singular moment.

Ngannou was (maybe is) great, but in instance of his fights vs Stipe, you can't just choose to perceive his first fight vs Stipe as Ngannou being "not in his prime" cuz he lost, and then "in his prime" the second time cuz he won.

That's not how shit works.

Ngannou lost in his prime, he won in his prime. He's definitely one of the most devastating punchers to ever step into the Octagon - but he lost vs Stipe and Lewis in his prime.

And he beat Stipe, when Stipe was out of his prime.

 

[Elegant]

Lol who has Aspinall beat? The almighty Pavlovich who had already been destroyed by old man Reem? Or Blaydes whose been KOd in every big moment of his career?

I get you guys want Jones to lose so you’ve created this imaginary unstoppable world beater in Aspinall to give you guys hope but he’s not that guy, it wouldn’t even be competitive, the best version of Ngannou would send him to the astral plane.

 

[Chagaev]

Ngannou looks more durable than Tom and I think that will give him the advantage. It's also true that Francis fought so many old men that is hard to evaluate his chances properly against a well rounded younger fighter.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

My bias for big Frank aside, I really think he would beat Tom in all honesty. Why? Because he has no unknown factors. We've seen him at his lowest and highest. We know what he is and isn't capable of. Where as with Tom there are still unknown factors, he hasn't been tested. We don't know how he reacts in the face of adversity, Tom could very much melt in the later rounds for all we know. We also don't know how he will bounce back from that inevitable first loss. For all we know he could turn into what Pav has turned into, gun shy and shooting for TD's. Where as Big Frank came off of a devastating KO loss in boxing to AJ along with losing his son, only to take down and pound Rena into the canvas effortlessly. Could Tom be capable of something like that? We don't know.

 

[HuskySamoan]

I see Aspinall vs N'Gannou as kinda 50/50. N'Gannou didn't have a lot of high level wins but he slaughtered Blaydes twice and beat Stipe in a rematch but beyond that? He mostly fought guys badly out of their primes (Arlovski, JDS, Cain) or just straight up low level guys. Beyond that he barely scraped by Gane and lost to Lewis. Even when he beat Stipe in the rematch, it was damaged goods...Stipe had been knocked out by Cormier and then they had two subsequent wars to wrap up the trilogy...Stipe pushing 40, had gotten knocked out and then rocked several times in 4 and 5 round wars leading up to the N'Gannou rematch.

Aspinalls resume is similar...he smashed Blaydes, Volkov and Pavlovitch but his run isn't a deep one either. Both guys merit is largely based off their massive athleticism at a weightclass that seriously lacks it. Aspinall is more multifaceted but we really don't have much to go off of to compare the two, neither guy has the best defense and I cant recall seeing either fella rocked in MMA?

Aspinall really needs the Jones fight to credif his legacy. Otherwise he's going to beat Gane and then what? Anyways it feels a little 50/50 to me.

 

[JBJ was here]

Tom wrecks Ngannou eight or nine times out of ten. Ngannou hitting a bit harder matters not at all given how hard Aspinall already hits, and Aspinall is simply much better than Ngannou at every other aspect of MMA aside from counter-punching. Aspinall is significantly faster and more accurate than anyone Ngannou has ever faced, reducing the utility of that one advantage. Ngannou has also been exposed to the extent that fighters with appropriate talent sets know what they have to do to beat him, and Aspinall has an appropriate skill set and is as good as anyone at executing his skill set well. Aspinall has an easy time of it if he fights a smart fight.

 

[ShadowRun]

Ngannou 2021 version destroys Tom and Ngannou 2025 version destroys Tom.

 

[ShadowRun]

Lol who has Aspinall beat? The almighty Pavlovich who had already been destroyed by old man Reem? Or Blaydes whose been KOd in every big moment of his career?

I get you guys want Jones to lose so you’ve created this imaginary unstoppable world beater in Aspinall to give you guys hope but he’s not that guy, it wouldn’t even be competitive, the best version of Ngannou would send him to the astral plane.

100%

 

[Versez]

2021 Ngannou in a smaller cage is hard to bet against...heck even for prime Aspinall...but who knows ? 2024 Aspinall is way sharper than 2021 Stipe.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

I would favour that version of Ngannou to catch him, i'd probably still favour current Ngannou tbh. But that says more about Ngannous quality than being any kind of criticism of Tom.

DC, Cain and Fedor on their absolute best nights are the only guys i'd clearly favour to beat Ngannou.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Lol who has Aspinall beat? The almighty Pavlovich who had already been destroyed by old man Reem? Or Blaydes whose been KOd in every big moment of his career?

Pavlovich was 5 years removed from the Reem loss, and was on a 6 fight RD1 KO streak. Blaydes is arguably Ngannous 2nd best career win, maybe even first depending on how you view where Stipe was really at in 2021. Volkov just got robbed against Gane. Tom took all of them out in like 5 mins of combined fight time.

Not saying he has an ATG resume or something, but all this "he hasnt fought anybody" shit is dumb and pretty much always done with an ulterior motive relating to everyones favourite sociopath cokehead.

 

[snugglecakes]

will frankis ever even fight again? Who is there for him to fight (in mma)? Frank's career after baby raging himself out of the UFC has been a fuggin joke.

Wasn't he supposed to be some kinda fighters' rights advocate or something? Where has he been at while PFL is doing even scummier contract limbo practices to athletes than even the UFC did? Is he pretty much unannounced retired after those 2 boxing paydays?

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I like to joke that Franci$ sucked Jon, but he actually ducked Tom

 

[oscerthegrouch]

(franks prime ) he was a boxer.. knew little MMA Tom would wrestle him up and SUB him. if they fought now Franks a boxer who would get wrestle up and Subbed so no time travel would help thanks for playing tho..... lol

 

[Ginja_Ninja]

Two heavyweights with good technique, speed and one punch KO power.

I'd say a coin flip

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Two heavyweights with good technique, speed and one punch KO power.

I'd say a coin flip

There's no way a fight like this would have a consistent winter in MMA. You'd get some "Nunes vs Cyborg" style results going either way with these two. My instinct is to say Aspinall, but that's because I think current Aspinall beats current Francis, but it's hard to imagine anyone in MMA beating prime Francis in a firefight. I know both have some wrestling skills but not sure if they are good enough to do much with the other.

 

[cmw43]

Lol who has Aspinall beat? The almighty Pavlovich who had already been destroyed by old man Reem? Or Blaydes whose been KOd in every big moment of his career?

I get you guys want Jones to lose so you’ve created this imaginary unstoppable world beater in Aspinall to give you guys hope but he’s not that guy, it wouldn’t even be competitive, the best version of Ngannou would send him to the astral plane.

Aspinall has taken out half the current ranked top 10 in a combined ten minutes.

What more can he do while Gane and Jones are running?

You can pick apart anyones wins if you try.

Ngannou beat retirement Stipe and a bunch of other old guys who were long past their prime on their way retirement like Reem and Arlovski, we've already established you think Blaydes is a can and Ngannou went life and death wrestling with Gane who we've now seen can't grapple his way out of a paper bag.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Hard fight to call, I am unsure. That is a fight I would have loved to have seen. Tom is much more dynamic than Francis, but Francis has more power.