John McCarthy believes Tom Aspinall will make heavyweight division interesting in 2022
John McCarthy has named Tom Aspinall as the fighter who would make the UFC's 265-pound weight class interesting in 2022.
Aspinall currently occupies the No.10 spot in the UFC's heavyweight rankings and holds a 11-2 win-loss record in his professional mixed martial arts career.
Speaking on a recent episode of Weighing In, McCarthy stressed that if Jon Jones doesn't get a title shot this year, the 28-year-old Aspinall will bag it with a couple of victories.
"So you have got other heavyweight fights happening. But we are talking about the UFC right here. If there is going to be an exciting fight in 2022 and it does not have a guy named Jon Jones involved in the division, I am gonna go down the list and have a guy that's going to get two more wins and at the end of the year be fighting for that title. I may be pushing this a little bit but Tom Aspinall is the guy that would make things interesting. He would make it fun. He has got the full game. I would love to see that guy actually getting a shot at the UFC heavyweight title by the end of 2022," said McCarthy.
Watch John McCarthy in conversation with his show's co-host and former mixed martial artist Josh Thomson below:
Tom Aspinall will face Shamil Abdurakhimov at London's UFC Fight Night in March
Tom Aspinall is set to square off against No.8-ranked Russian Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC Fight Night in London on March 19th, 2022.
Aspinall is on a seven-fight winning streak right now. However, Abdurakhimov is coming off back-to-back losses to higher-ranked fighters Curtis Blaydes and Chris Daukaus.
See ESPN MMA journalist Brett Okamoto confirming the Tom Aspinall vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov heavyweight bout on Twitter below:
Per UFC officials, UFC is finalizing a heavyweight fight between Tom Aspinall and Shamil Abudrakhimov for March 19. Aspinall is 4-0 in UFC, ranked No. 11. Abudrakhimov is 5-4 in the UFC, ranked No. 8.
Aspinall racked up two wins in 2021. He submitted Andrei Arlovski at UFC Vegas 19 in February and knocked out Sergey Spivak at UFC Vegas 36 in September. Both triumphs saw him earn 'Performance of the Night' bonuses.
He will now be determined to make maximum use of home advantage, claim his fifth UFC victory and move up in the rankings.