"I don't think that fight would have gone out of the first round" - Curtis Blaydes explains why he believes he could have finished Tom Aspinall early at UFC London
Curtis Blaydes has explained why he feels he could’ve finished Tom Aspinall early in their pivotal heavyweight bout that headlined UFC London on July 23rd. The fight witnessed Aspinall suffer a knee injury, resulting in Blaydes winning via first-round TKO just 15 seconds into round one.
On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Blaydes noted that Aspinall is used to finishing his fights early — the heavyweight hasn’t gone past the second round in his professional MMA career. ‘Razor’ emphasized that the UK fighter was extremely aggressive right from the get-go, stating:
“The more offensive and aggressive you are, the more open you are to counters and to takedowns. So, I just, I knew if my timing was right, I’ll be able to find the takedown or the knockdown on the feet.”
“Even though it was a 15-second fight, we only had like, two or three exchanges. Each exchange, I felt a little – I could feel my fist just touching him... I don’t think that fight would have got out of the first round. I think the way we were scrapping, it wasn’t like a feeling out round. It was, we were going; somebody’s going out.”
Tom Aspinall lands a leg kick then falls to the ground in pain, ending the #UFCLondon main event.
Curtis Blaydes wins via TKO. https://t.co/GDJcOmyXHW
Furthermore, Curtis Blaydes insinuated that he was confident that he’d knock Aspinall out within the first round, as he possessed a two-inch reach advantage over him and would’ve touched the Liverpudlian before the latter could touch him.
Watch Blaydes discuss the topic at 2:12:00 in the video below:
When Curtis Blaydes revealed who hits harder between Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis
Curtis Blaydes has only lost three times in his MMA career: twice to UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and once to Derrick Lewis. Presently, ‘Razor’ is lobbying to fight the winner of the September matchup between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa. While Blaydes is unlikely to face Ngannou or Lewis next, he recently revisited his KO/TKO losses to them.
Your main event for #UFCParis is here 🇫🇷
@ciryl_gane will face the hard-hitting @bambamtuivasa
in a 5-round brawl 💥
How do you see this going down? 🤔 https://t.co/bg99LFOw7O
Speaking to MMA News earlier this month, Curtis Blaydes recalled that his first loss to Ngannou was a doctor’s stoppage, whereas his second loss was a TKO wherein he was dazed but still conscious. Meanwhile, Lewis was able to knock him unconscious. Hailing Lewis as a harder hitter than Ngannou, Blaydes said:
“[In the rematch], he [Ngannou] dropped me twice in rapid succession, and then the referee jumped in. But I was aware. I remember everything. When Derrick Lewis knocked me out, I woke up in the ambulance. So there you go. That's a big difference."
Watch Blaydes’ assessment below: