The UFC’s return to London in March has a heavyweight headliner.
Former Bellator heavyweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkov[/autotag] (34-9 MMA, 8-3 UFC) will take on [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in the main event of the UFC’s “Fight Night” show on March 19. UFC president Dana White confirmed the booking to the promotion’s broadcast partner, ESPN.
While the March 19 card is not official, it is expected to take place at O2 Arena in London with a broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+.
Volkov got back in the win column this past October with a decision over Marcin Tybura at UFC 267. In June 2021, he dropped a decision to Ciryl Gane, who went on to win the interim heavyweight title. The loss to Gane snapped a two-fight winning streak of knockouts against Walt Harris and Alistair Overeem, the latter of which won a post-fight bonus award.
Aspinall, from Manchester, will fight in front of his home-country fans for the first time as a member of the UFC’s roster. He fought exclusively in England for his first nine fights before he signed with the UFC for a July 2020 Performance of the Night debut with a first-round knockout of Jake Collier.
Aspinall followed that up with a first-round TKO of Alan Baudot, a bonus-winning submission of former champion Andrei Arlovski in February 2021, and a bonus-winning first-round knockout of Serghei Spivac this past September.
With the addition, the UFC’s London card now includes:
- Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
- Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento
- Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
- Cody Durden vs. Muhammad Mokaev
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
- Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Sergei Pavlovich