Would Aspinall have been ranked in the heyday of the UFC HW division?

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Honestly, other than Ngannou and Stipe I think Tom walks through any HW in UFC history.

Ngannou I feel catches him, we've only ever seen him hurt against AJ and we've seen Tom get clipped coming in a fair few times.
Stipe in his prime I could see surviving a tough first round and picking away at him and getting a late finish or decision win.

Edit: Forgot about DC lol. I'd favour Tom to beat him, but 60/40 in his favour. I can't imagine anyone walking through a prime DC.

Cain in his prime beats most of them, except francis.

 

[orca]

This is hard to respond to as we need a general guide of when the UFC's heyday was--like what years? I assume it's the period when Cain, JDS, Carwin, Mir and Brock fought, and slightly later when the Strikeforce guys came over (Werdum, Cormier, Overeem and Josh Barnett) and Stipe was getting attention. The other heyday, IMO, was the early 2000s when Pedro Rizzo, Ricco, Barnett (first UFC stint) and Couture were fighting, and Mir/Arlovski/Tim Sylvia arrived shortly afterwards. I assume we won't use this earlier period because the sport was much less evolved, but I still think where would be a few interesting match-ups for Aspinall.

When TS threw Ngannou into the mix, everything got thrown off.

As for his hypothetical match-ups, my main disagreement would be Carwin. I see Aspinall being like JDS as a the faster, more technical sriker who also hits very hard. And Carwin hardly ever used offensive wrestling. The cardio of both Tom and Shane is/was largely untested, but we did see Carwin completely gas in one round vs. Lesnar after throwing everything but the kitchen sink and failing to finish Brock.

tom already fought a 42 year old arlovski
and was his toughest fight
also his most impressive win
judging by that fight alone hes gonna have a hard time

 

[Ares Black]

This is such a ridiculous thread

 

[Ares Black]

tom already fought a 42 year old arlovski

True

and was his toughest fight

False

also his most impressive win

False

 

[Mike]

True

False

False

Don't he will just post more bullshit in response you know this lmao.

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

1) Stipe being overrated is the dumbass part, especially ironic for a Rampage (quite overrated on here) fan to say
2) I've never heard anyone claim Stipe was the HW GOAT
3) Stipe's win over prime Ngannou (in the first fight before Stipe was too old/washed) remains one of the best HW wins. Stipe actually beat Ngannou, too...it wasn't a weird staring contest like Lewis-Ngannou.

Prime Ngannou who lost to the bummy Derrick Lewis in his very next fight?

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Tom would be great in any era but it's hard to say how'd he'd do against prime Cain, prime JDS and prime Stipe. Those guys all had much better over all skills than anyone he's beaten.

 

[mkess101]

Tom's been dropped by Volkov and Blaydes.

Having a granite chin is make belief nonsense.

Pure fantasy. A slip vs Volkov and his knee buckling in a non contact injury vs Blaydes.

You're an absolute clown that seems to desire having zero credibility. It's like you're addicted to looking stupid.

 

[mkess101]

do you believe he can beat prime jds?
jds can knock anyone out has way better hands than nganou
has great cardio
also has a great chin

Can he? Sure. Would he? No way to know. Tom is absolutely faster than any version of JDS but that's just one factor. We're just guessing, prime JDS was super skilled but Tom probably even more skilled and definitely more athletic. But absolutely not as battle tested.

 

[markg171]

Pure fantasy. A slip vs Volkov and his knee buckling in a non contact injury vs Blaydes.

You're an absolute clown that seems to desire having zero credibility. It's like you're addicted to looking stupid.

Lol Tom himself acknowledged it afterwards as a good shot by Volkov

Tom also then immediately after this shot a take down rather than continue standing with Volkov.

As to Blaydes, it's particularly hilarious to continue to be in denial about it when it was only 4 months later that Tom got caught by the same scenario he did against Volkov.

Sorry bud, but Tom does have a weakness. He drops his hands and leaves himself wide open when he throws his kicks and both Volkov and Blaydes caught him on it.

 

[mkess101]

Lol Tom himself acknowledged it afterwards as a good shot by Volkov

Tom then immediately after this shot a take down rather than continue standing with Volkov.

As to Blaydes, it's particularly hilarious to continue to be in denial about it when it was only 4 months later and Tom got caught by the exact same scenario as he did against Volkov.

Sorry bud, but Tom does have a weakness. He drops his hands and leaves himself wide open when he throws his kicks and both Volkov and Blaydes caught him on it.

You are posting the gif literally showing that he slips and it has nothing to do with his chin. And talk about denial, you're alone on an island claiming Blaydes knocked him down and it wasn't a freak injury from replanting his leg after a kick.

You quite frankly are either the dumbest or most dishonest poster on the forum. Maybe both, but 100% at least one of those two. Pathetic.

 

[markg171]

You are posting the gif literally showing that he slips and it has nothing to do with his chin. And talk about denial, you're alone on an island claiming Blaydes knocked him down and it wasn't a freak injury from replanting his leg after a kick.

You quite frankly are either the dumbest or most dishonest poster on the forum. Maybe both, but 100% at least one of those two. Pathetic.

Amazing how often Tom slips when he gets punched in the face.

It's a simple question mate: do you or don't you think that Tom drops his hands when he throws his leg kicks like he obviously did against both Volkov and Blaydes?

Like is your serious best case scenario that he's got a repeated weakness but has just lucked his way through somebody never properly hitting him during it? Cause that's still an issue even if that's the case.

 

[mkess101]

Amazing how often Tom slips when he gets punched in the face.

It's a simple question mate: do you or don't you think that Tom drops his hands when he throws his leg kicks like he obviously did against both Volkov and Blaydes?

Like is your serious best case scenario that he's got a repeated weakness but has just lucked his way through somebody never properly hitting him during it? Cause that's still an issue even if that's the case.

Except it's been proven by the correct angle that Blaydes punch didn't even land. A fact that you blatantly ignore. And in this case Volkov's barely touches him, it's clearly a slip which is obvious to anyone with more than 2 brain cells since Tom is immediately up and laughing and re-engaging.

You claimed these scenarios showed his CHIN lacking and now you're talking about other things (of course). Stop lying, or living in fantasy land, and seek help.

 

[BjPenn2017]

^^ no he’s garbage and the only reason he exists now is because the top 10 has such HW greats like Tybura and Gaziev, 50 year old Arlovski for reference.

 

[markg171]

Except it's been proven by the correct angle that Blaydes punch didn't even land.

You mean the other angle where you literally see the back of Tom's head snap back from being punched in the face?

And in this case Volkov's barely touches him, it's clearly a slip which is obvious to anyone with more than 2 brain cells since Tom is immediately up and laughing and re-engaging.

Do you know how many countless examples there are of fighters smiling and laughing after taking a good shot? It's the biggest tell in combat sports that someone got hurt by a shot.

As is immediately shooting a take down to avoid continuing standing after taking something you didn't like.

Both of which Tom did after Volkov dropped him.

You claimed these scenarios showed his CHIN lacking and now you're talking about other things (of course). Stop lying, or living in fantasy land, and seek help.

In the span of 4 months Tom got caught in the same scenario by two different fighters and went down both times. In any other fighter you'd say that's a bit worrying and at LEAST is a defensive issue he needs to fix before someone puts him out clean there with a better shot.

Meanwhile people are saying his chin is granite for no reason. Even in YOUR bizarro scenario that neither shot "actually" hit him that doesn't prove he has a good chin. If he didn't get hit then YOU are the one who has no idea how his chin is and shouldn't be saying he has a good chin.

 

[mkess101]

You mean the other angle where you literally see the back of Tom's head snap back from being punched in the face?

Do you know how many countless examples there are of fighters smiling and laughing after taking a good shot? It's the biggest tell in combat sports that someone got hurt by a shot.

As is immediately shooting a take down to avoid continuing standing after taking something you didn't like.

Both of which Tom did after Volkov dropped him.

In the span of 4 months Tom got caught in the same scenario by two different fighters and went down both times. In any other fighter you'd say that's a bit worrying and at LEAST is a defensive issue he needs to fix before someone puts him out clean there with a better shot.

Meanwhile people are saying his chin is granite for no reason. Even in YOUR bizarro scenario that neither shot "actually" hit him that doesn't prove he has a good chin. If he didn't get hit then YOU are the one who has no idea how his chin is and shouldn't be saying he has a good chin.

But I didn't claim he had a granite chin! Someone else may have, my point is that you've clearly fabricated "evidence" out of the ether that "prove" he doesn’t. Again you show the angle FROM BEHIND in the Blaydes fight. Show the one from the side, I dare you. You won't of course.

And if you watch the Volkov slip and think Aspinall is affected AT ALL by that punch that MAYBE grazed him, you absolutely have no idea about this sport at all.

Here's the actual knee injury from a better angle and why you're a clown for making the claims you do:

 

[Steve Fox]

Carwin? Sherbro, be serious.

 

[VAfan]

clearly good enough. who he'd beat or not beat is of course entirely up for debate. disagree cain would have walked straight thru him, tom's TDD isn't necessarily bad it's more of an unknown, and his striking is better than cain's.

 

[Jawth]

He is more well rounded than a lot of the guys listed. He can get a quick KO but also has subs too.

I could envision prime JDS, Cain, and Stipe beating him but he could beat them all too.

I think Francis would have beat him but we wont ever know.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

He absolutely does not have an impressive resume either

Game of inches, almost became champ. Started old as fuck too which didn't help.