What are current Aspinall chances in battles with the best HWs in history?

[BFoe]

Of the list provided, I feel pretty comfortable saying he loses to Cain, Fedor, DC, JDS, Ubereem, and Stipe beat him.

Of the remainder—Gane, Carwin, CroCop,and Barnett—I think I like Barnett’s chances the best.

 

[orca]

he fought a 42 year old andrei we all saw that fight
hes been fighting fighters like volkov whos a longtime journeyman from stipes era

i dont really have a clue
but jones haters say hes an olympian level wrestler and a world class bjj black belt because hes been trained by his dad
hes also a muay thai champ that he could outstrike gane

i believe guys like jds would outbox him and outlast him lol

 

[NextGen]

Of the list provided, I feel pretty comfortable saying he loses to Cain, Fedor, DC, JDS, Ubereem, and Stipe beat him.

Of the remainder—Gane, Carwin, CroCop,and Barnett—I think I like Barnett’s chances the best.

Based on what, exactly? Aspinall has destroyed practically everyone in record-breaking time and has shown freakish athleticism with a well-rounded skillset.

You don't know what his weaknesses are, if he even has any.

So how can you comfortably say he will lose to anyone?

 

[TheBulge]

If you think the 2-1-2 he landed on Pavlovich was "wild and sloppy", you legit don't know what you're watching. I'm not even saying it to be a dick. I think there's a a couple of his KO's where you could say he got a bit wild. But there's also some that are literally textbook on how you throw in the pocket and land first.

It's not so much about whether every 1-2 he throws is sloppy(and he throws many, many , many sloppy ones, even more sloppy than when you are on your knees in front of Tom and I am saying that to be a dick) it's more about how many he throws, how wildly he does it and how he often leaves himself open.

Especially now that he's not in his 20s anymore he's not gonna outspeed every opponent and finish them in 1 round. He shows limitations and many question marks.

He's the best HW right now because he came after all the great ones before him have retired. Look at the current top 10.

 

[mkess101]

It's not so much about whether every 1-2 he throws is sloppy(and he throws many, many , many sloppy ones, even more sloppy than when you are on your knees in front of Tom and I am saying that to be a dick) it's more about how many he throws, how wildly he does it and how he often leaves himself open.

Especially now that he's not in his 20s anymore he's not gonna outspeed every opponent and finish them in 1 round. He shows limitations and many question marks.

He's the best HW right now because he came after all the great ones before him have retired. Look at the current top 10.

LMAO well shit you're just a salty cunt. Noted!


Go ahead and head back down to your day job of manning the glory hole at the truckstop, bud. I'm sure those truckers miss ya.

As for how he fights...can only crush who's there.

 

[BFoe]

Based on what, exactly? Aspinall has destroyed practically everyone in record-breaking time and has shown freakish athleticism with a well-rounded skillset.

You don't know what his weaknesses, if he even has any.

So how can you confidently say he will lose to anyone?

The same way we make fight predictions or bets anytime we make them. We look at a fighter’s skills, wins and losses, how they have won or lost, style matchups, and we make an educated guess as to how a fight will play out, right?

 

[Lee Danger]

But yeah the Gonzaga loss was rough too.

Like I said, i'm not even suggesting Tom necessarily beats Cro Cop, just that he (or Ngannou, Gane, Jon) would not be let off the hook ever for a loss that bad.

Crocop lost some weird fights like the Big Nog's one or this one, those are exceptions in his early to mid career and everyone in hindsight should know it.

That said he avenged pretty easily this one and he forced the best at doing this (Fedor) to change his strategy in their match, since Aspinall has never faced the variety and quality of competition of that era of HWs i cannot bet on him dominating stylistically the fight and for sure i cannot predict him pulling an hail Mary Randleman's punch out of nowhere.

 

[NextGen]

The same way we make fight predictions or bets anytime we make them. We look at a fighter’s skills, wins and losses, how they have won or lost, style matchups, and we make an educated guess as to how a fight will play out, right?

My point is, all we have seen from Tom so far is him destroying the opposition in record time and without showing any discernible weakness.

So, there is no real basis to predict him losing to any of these guys.

 

[Chagaev]

Hard to say, I need to see him in deep waters first. Old man Arlovski was the only one to take him to the second round I think.

 

[BFoe]

My point is, all we have seen from Tom so far is him destroying the opposition in record time and without showing any discernible weakness.

So, there is no real basis to predict him losing to any of these guys.

Aspinall does have a legitimate (non-injury) loss, albeit years ago. And I think even though he beat Arlovski, there’s things to be learned from that fight. Arlovksi was able to blitz in and close distance, he was able to parry off shots that Aspinall threw, and he survived the first big blitz once he got tagged. That’s not bad for a 42 year old fighter that most have felt had a glass (or at least suspect) chin for years.

And then there’s the other side of the equation, the opponents were talking about. Fedor of course didn’t cleanly lose a fight for 10 years, hard to pick against that. Ubereem (I usually consider Ubereem to be the version of Reem we saw from Buentello to Lesnar) went 11-0-1 in that stretch, had really good striking fundamentals and solid grappling, plus was a crazy powerhouse. I just have a hard time seeing Aspinall beat that version of Reem.

We’ve seen lots of guys who destroy people quickly eventually lose. Carwin did until Lesnar survived the onslaught, against JDS it was a whole different ballgame. Ngannou murked people until he met Stipe. Aspinall is beatable.

 

[NextGen]

Aspinall does have a legitimate (non-injury) loss, albeit years ago. And I think even though he beat Arlovski, there’s things to be learned from that fight. Arlovksi was able to blitz in and close distance, he was able to parry off shots that Aspinall threw, and he survived the first big blitz once he got tagged. That’s not bad for a 42 year old fighter that most have felt had a glass (or at least suspect) chin for years.

And then there’s the other side of the equation, the opponents were talking about. Fedor of course didn’t cleanly lose a fight for 10 years, hard to pick against that. Ubereem (I usually consider Ubereem to be the version of Reem we saw from Buentello to Lesnar) went 11-0-1 in that stretch, had really good striking fundamentals and solid grappling, plus was a crazy powerhouse. I just have a hard time seeing Aspinall beat that version of Reem.

We’ve seen lots of guys who destroy people quickly eventually lose. Carwin did until Lesnar survived the onslaught, against JDS it was a whole different ballgame. Ngannou murked people until he met Stipe. Aspinall is beatable.

Aspinall may be beatable, but until he actually loses in the UFC (not counting injury) or at least shows some discernible weakness(es), this is all conjecture.

One thing we do know is that there has never been a 250+ lbs MMA HW with the movement and hand speed that he possesses. And he has the power too. Physically speaking there has never been anyone like him before.

Let's see how he continues to look against the rest of the division (Gane, Almeida, Jones if he ever stops ducking, etc.)...but he's cleaned out most of the top contenders already and nobody has challenged him so far.

 

[linvillegorge]

I'd probably have him as a slight underdog to prime Cain and Jones, even odds against DC and prime Stipe. Favorite over everyone else.

 

[mkess101]

Aspinall does have a legitimate (non-injury) loss, albeit years ago. And I think even though he beat Arlovski, there’s things to be learned from that fight. Arlovksi was able to blitz in and close distance, he was able to parry off shots that Aspinall threw, and he survived the first big blitz once he got tagged. That’s not bad for a 42 year old fighter that most have felt had a glass (or at least suspect) chin for years.

And then there’s the other side of the equation, the opponents were talking about. Fedor of course didn’t cleanly lose a fight for 10 years, hard to pick against that. Ubereem (I usually consider Ubereem to be the version of Reem we saw from Buentello to Lesnar) went 11-0-1 in that stretch, had really good striking fundamentals and solid grappling, plus was a crazy powerhouse. I just have a hard time seeing Aspinall beat that version of Reem.

We’ve seen lots of guys who destroy people quickly eventually lose. Carwin did until Lesnar survived the onslaught, against JDS it was a whole different ballgame. Ngannou murked people until he met Stipe. Aspinall is beatable.

He's definitely beatable (everyone is) and **might** have lost to all or none of the guys you mentioned. That's why while these discussions can be fun for a bit, they always hit a wall pretty quickly. Aspinall clearly has a speed/power combo in his striking we've never seen. You could say prime Fedor had that speed for sure. And there's guys who hit harder imo (Ngannou among others--hell Pavlovich right now probably has more pure power). But the combination is new, he's the unicorn on that specific front.

But there are also legit questions. What does his cardio look like if he's forced to go deep into a fight. Exactly how good a grappler has he become? He sure as shit isn’t a Werdum level bjj player. But is he well above average to where it wouldn't be something that held him back vs elite all time HW's? I'd guess yes, but we don’t know. Just how good is his chin? Pav clipped him with an okay shot and Aspinall ate it. But it wasn't massive, so it's still a little unknown there too.

That's the thing when you're wrecking everyone quickly--parts of your game stay in the "unknown" column well into your career because nobody hangs in long enough to test them. And that inevitably leads to morons who don't like said fighter to grasp at straws from decade old regional fights and pretend they're still relevant.

Ideally we get at least a couple guys that are really good and burst into the scene in the next few years to give Aspinall a bigger challenge and test him. That said, it's MMA and nothing is guaranteed. If Gane has his number this fall, the low IQ muppets will say Aspinall is a bum. Won't matter if he then goes on to avenge the loss and KO 10 more guys in a row. The haters will pretend his only fight ever was a loss. (Most likely he smokes Gane though).

 

[snugglecakes]

tom wouldnt lose to those overrated sub 230 lbs pride can crushers like 220 lbs cro cop and 230lbs bloated LHW dad bod gutted fedor that fought a buncha bloated middleweights

Fedor's whole resume is built off beating bloated middleweights like kevn randleman and bloated LHWs like coleman and other small sub 230 heavyweights like not so big nog and cro cop. Size matters and a monster like tom would impose his will. EVen 265 lbs Timmay moved in slow motion and had already been wrestlefucked by Light heavyweight randy. Fedor has zero wins against any actual monster sized but also skillful heavyweights. Arlovski also came into his fights around that time in the beta 230s range

The pride HW roster was so hilariously overrated and the misconception that it was good only came from it being better than the UFC's at the time but that doesn't say much considering how horrendous UFC HW was during this era

 

[OmegaRugal]

We will never know but if I had to guess he Probably beats them all with ease.

If HW was as terrible as people think it is today, what’s stopping the super huge LHWs from going to HW and getting that title?

My guess is… their training sessions with their gyms HWs don’t go so well

 

[BFoe]

Aspinall may be beatable, but until he actually loses in the UFC (not counting injury) or at least shows some discernible weakness(es), this is all conjecture.

One thing we do know is that there has never been a 250+ lbs MMA HW with the movement and hand speed that he possesses. And he has the power too. Physically speaking there has never been anyone like him before.

Let's see how he continues to look against the rest of the division (Gane, Almeida, Jones if he ever stops ducking, etc.)...but he's cleaned out most of the top contenders already and nobody has challenged him so far.

It’ll always be conjecture, but yeah, we’ll have more data to go on. I’m an Aspinall fan, but I’m not putting him among the all time heat HWs yet.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

hard to say because he has no rivals. HW has become terrible simply because by the time someone who looks good comes along, the top dog is almost always old and ready to go anyway. you don't get Mirko vs Fedor or Fedor vs Big Nog types of fights because there is never a prime for prime rivalry happening in that division. hell, even Arlovski vs Sylvia rivalry was good simply because both guys were peaking at the same time.

the same thing is kind of happening at LHW. Pereira is getting old, he's closer to the end than the middle of his career. Jiri isn't old but he has the kind of style that can age like milk over night. Jan is old. Rakic's career seems crippled by his knee injury. Jamahal Hill's career seems to be following Rakic's except worse since it seems he didn't take enough time off to properly heal. Reyes is on a resurgence but he also has eaten quite a few brutal KOs, some to questionable opposition (lookin at you Ryan Spann). Oezdemir is a gatekeeper at this point. so really, the only young and unhindered LHWs that could challenge Ankalaev is Carlos Ulberg and Rountree.

Its really a shame we should be on the 2nd go round of fights between Jon/Francis/Tom but Jon is a massive cunt and the UFC is generally just inept.