One day he will be champion - Michael Bisping talks about Tom Aspinall's potential to be champion one day
Michael Bisping has put forth his take on heavyweight prospect Tom Aspinall’s chances of winning UFC gold. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Bisping was all praise for fellow UK MMA stalwart Aspinall.
‘The Count’ and Helwani lauded fighters such as Tom Aspinall, Leon Edwards, Arnold Allen, Darren Till, Molly McCann, and others who are doing a great job representing their native – the UK.
Michael Bisping was asked who he believes will become the UK’s next UFC champion. Bisping, the first and thus far only UK-born UFC champion, responded by stating:
“The one that I think I can firmly say that will become champion one day is, without a question, Tom Aspinall. He moves like a middleweight. He’s six-foot-six. He’s gigantic. He’s so humble. He’s such a hard worker. He’s a lifelong jiu-jitsu specialist. He’s got incredible striking. And he’s so humble that he does the work; 4-0 in the UFC, four stoppages.”
Discussing Aspinall's next outing inside the octagon, 'The Count' added:
“He’s got a tall order with [Alexander] Volkov. But I believe if he can get through Volkov, then nothing but big, big fights. Of course, we’ve got [Francis] Ngannou; he’s at the top of the food chain. But Tom’s very, very technical. So, I think Tom. I think Tom’s gonna pull it off.”
UFC’s return to London on March 19 has a heavyweight main event, per Dana White. England’s Tom Aspinall vs. Alexander Volkov. Who you got? https://t.co/lM74EzyNlP
Aspinall’s most recent fight was a first-round TKO win over Sergey Spivak at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till in September 2021. The rising star will face Alexander Volkov in a five-round heavyweight bout that’ll headline the UFC Fight Night 204 card on March 19th.
Aspinall currently holds the No. 11 spot in the official UFC heavyweight rankings, whereas Volkov is ranked No. 6.
Watch Michael Bisping’s conversation with Ariel Helwani below:
Tom Aspinall believes Francis Ngannou shouldn’t box Tyson Fury
The undisputed UFC heavyweight title is currently held by Francis Ngannou, who’s unlikely to fight for the next several months due to a knee injury. Ngannou has recently been engaged in a contract dispute with the UFC. ‘The Predator’ is purportedly willing to re-sign with the UFC only if he’s given a pay raise and allowed to compete in boxing as well.
Who would like to see me fight this beast boxing rules @ufc gloves?
@danawhite @francis_ngannou https://t.co/xONNoT8NzR
Ngannou and boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury recently expressed interest in facing one another in a boxing match with MMA gloves. Speaking to TheMacLife, Tom Aspinall addressed this and suggested that Ngannou shouldn’t box Fury. Aspinall said:
"Don't do it, man. I think people like MMA fighters that think they can box, they can box well for MMA! But when you're fighting actual boxers, they need to seriously do something like hard sparring with world-level boxers.”
Watch the full video below: