News Tom Aspinall vs Alexander Volkov set for UFC London main event, Mar. 19th

[Argonaut]

I think this is too much too soon for Aspinal. Volkov should take this considering how incredibly close his fight with Gane was.

 

[JoeRowe]

Struve vs Stipe vibes.

Volkov by tko confirmed

 

[JoeRowe]

I think this is too much too soon for Aspinal. Volkov should take this considering how incredibly close his fight with Gane was.

It wasn't incredibly close but he did win the 1st, and imo the 2nd but it was very close. Last rounds were competitive but clear for Gane. I think Volkov is underrated but he looked big and slow in his last fight, I think he should drop 7-8 lbs of the 20 that he gained.

I also think Gane doesn't mind losing the 1st as long as he is downloading reads and letting his opponent expend more energy. Gonna be hard to get away with that vs Francis though.

 

[Safton]

I'm actually going with Volkov in this spot. I like Aspinall a lot and I think he's probably the best Heavyweight prospect out there, but he needed one more solid performance against a lower ranked gatekeeper before a push like this. I've yet to see him technically strike for three full rounds, much less five and in fact the momentum of the Arlovski fight started to get away from him slightly (whether due to adrenaline dump or an eye issue) before he transitioned to the grappling. Against a high-level technical kickboxer who's going to be willing to chop down his lead leg and rob him of his signature footwork and the power in his punches, that's troubling. Especially since Volkov has shown the ability to go for five hard rounds at an extremely high pace by HW standards and do it consistently.

And I'm not even convinced that Tom can go straight to the grappling. Volkov's defensive grappling is really not that bad. Curtis Blaydes set a Heavyweight record for takedowns (14 of 25) against him and the man still sits at 73% TDD rating. Marcin Tybura went 0 for 16 against Drago in their last fight and he's a credible chain-wrestler. Gane went 0 for 4. Overeem attempted one and didn't get it. Roy Nelson and Timothy Johnson both went 1 for 8.

But it's not just Volkov's ability to stuff the TDs; he's there to get taken down occasionally, as Curtis showed. Where Volkov really shines is making that initial takedown as difficult as possible, shutting down his opponent's attempts to advance position/rain down GnP/set up subs from top, and steadily getting back to his feet. This is a guy who got taken down by Blaydes 14 times and yet didn't get murdered with hellbows where most would have. He also had Fabricio Werdum on top of him for a significant amount of time and stayed safe long enough to return to his feet and knock him out. I don't see Aspinall repeating the performance he had against Arlovski.

I haven't seen enough of Tom to be convinced of his route to victory here against a proven commodity in Volkov who is capable of robbing him of at least some of his primary weapons.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Huge step up but I think Tom is ready for it, I'll be impressed if he steamrolls Volkov but I'm expecting a closer 48-47.

 

[bjjHERRERA]

sweet!! bright future for aspinal

 

[Hdfi]

Aspinal by submission

 

[Iroh]

Damn that's a great fight!! Can't wait!

 

[fortheo]

I would have rather seen Arnold Allen main event, but this is good too

 

[legcramp]

Ez fight for Tom.

 

[Bradillac]

Big speed and athleticism advantage for Aspinall. Should be another easy win for him.

 

[HHJ]

oh shit big step up

GOATspinall all day

 

[jk7707]

Helluva fight. I'm inclined to favor Thick Boi Volkov based on experience. Aspinall is insanely talented, but this is a giant step up in competition for him. I think it may be a bit too much.

 

[10000yearsold]

Volkov has all the tools to win here. All about how he chooses to perform.

 

[sonhow]

Its a big step up but its a big step up at hw. And we have seen other people make those steps before. Aspinall by tko.

 

[Safton]

I would have rather seen Arnold Allen main event, but this is good too

"But he's a boring point-fighter!"

It would be nice to see him get a spot on the card but I doubt it happens this late. He hasn't fought it what feels like a while. Lots of interesting matchups for him at 145.

 

[Herwald]

Awesome fight. Leaning Volkov.

 

[The Legendary Scarface]

Awesome fight. I guess they don't have trust in Paddy's star power just yet

 

[usernamee]

Good. Tom seemed to want to beat cans for a couple more years so I am happy he actually is going to fight someone legit to find out where he is

Don't give me 100 year old Arlovski shit

 

[MCS]

Damn good fight, big test for Aspinall. If he gets stuck at range like Hardy and most of Volkov's opponents do, or if Tom has the striking skill coupled with the athleticism to back Volkov down and actually land on him.

Am a bit surprised Aspinall took this fight, as he sounded clear he needs more time to improve before a big step-up. This fight will show how good Tom is.