Tag: Tom Aspinall

Henry Cejudo: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall exciting but not worth interim belt at UFC 295

Henry Cejudo doesn’t think Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall should be fighting for interim gold at UFC 295.

[autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] doesn’t think [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] warrants a UFC interim heavyweight title.

Pavlovich (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Aspinall (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) have been booked for an interim title fight in the UFC 295 co-main event after a torn pectoral muscle forced heavyweight champion Jon Jones out of his title defense against Stipe Miocic on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

With Jones facing an eight-month recovery timeline, Cejudo doesn’t see the need for an interim belt. He views Pavlovich vs. Aspinall as a glorified No. 1 contender fight.

“These are two guys that are up-and-coming, that are in their prime, that can potentially challenge a guy like Jones or Stipe, the winner of that,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “It is exciting, but is it worth an interim heavyweight championship of the world? No, it isn’t.

“I think we’re starting to dilute a little bit of what it is to actually be a UFC champion. I think this is more of a No. 1 contender spot, and I think that’s what you call it. I think maybe the UFC, if they’re going to do that, then start creating new belts or make the interim belt silver for that matter.”

Pavlovich has knocked out his past six opponents in the first round, and Cejudo is siding with him to beat Aspinall based on his power.

“I’m going for the Russian,” Cejudo said. “I think Sergei is a lot more agile. I think he brings a lot more power. I think Tom is good, I think Tom’s footwork could be a little problematic, but there’s something about Russians that they just come from a great school of technique, of the school of combat. For that reason, I got to go with Sergei. There’s a lot of hype with him. He’s got knockout power. … For that reason at heavyweight, you got to go with power.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

Tom Aspinall in awe of Francis Ngannou’s performance vs. Tyson Fury after thinking he’d ‘get smashed’

Despite training with Tyson Fury, UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall admits he thought Francis Ngannou beat him in the ring.

Despite training with [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag], [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] admits he thought [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] beat him.

Ngannou stunned the masses when he took WBC champion Fury to a split decision in their crossover boxing match this past Saturday in Saudi Arabia. The former UFC heavyweight champion also had the most significant moment in the fight, knocking Fury down in Round 3.

Aspinall isn’t as familiar with boxing judging as he is with MMA’s, but he thought Ngannou did enough to win.

“It’s hard to say because I don’t know boxing judging as well as I know MMA judging, but I personally thought Ngannou won,” Aspinall told TalkSport. “But like I say, I might be wrong. I don’t know the judging that well.”

Like the odds suggested, Aspinall expected an easy night for Fury.

“Shocking, absolutely shocking,” Aspinall said. “As someone who has been around Tyson Fury for a long time, I couldn’t believe it. I’m still shocked. I watched a couple of highlights again from it this morning. You’ve just got to give maximum respect to Francis Ngannou for what he’s done.

“To have that belief in himself, his full story is just inspiring. Like, he’s come from where he’s come from, sacked the UFC off, took the money. Everybody thought he was going to lose, let’s be honest, including me. I thought he was going to get smashed. And he did amazing, fair play to him.”

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For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Daniel Cormier: Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich ‘may be a better fight’ than Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic

The idea of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic sounds great, but does Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich actually make UFC 295 better?

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] thinks UFC 295 might’ve ended up with a better heavyweight title fight.

The original title fight was scrapped after a torn pectoral muscle forced heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] out of his first title defense against [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. As a result, the promotion decided to book [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) vs. [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) for the interim belt.

With both Aspinall and Pavlovich showing tons of promise and championship potential to this point in their careers, Cormier believes their fight could end up delivering more than Jones vs. Miocic would have.

“We might have fallen in love with the idea of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic for what they’ve been to the game, and we may overestimate the value of the fight,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “DC & RC.” “Because Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall may be a better fight.”

Cormier argues that former champion Miocic’s long layoff leaves a lot of question marks on how his fight with Jones could pan out, whereas Pavlovich and Aspinall are very much in their primes.

“You’re getting Pavlovich vs. Aspinall, two of the best heavyweights in the world,” Cormier said. “What I am implying to you is that we don’t know who Stipe is today at 41 when we haven’t seen him since 39. I’m not saying he’s not going to be the same guy. I’m just saying that now, we have two young, hungry lions fighting for a portion of the heavyweight championship.

“… Right now, I don’t know if the world is looking at the Miocic-Jones fight and thinking, ‘Boy, this is going to be amazing.’ But was it going to be amazing in 2015, 2016, or is it going to be amazing today? That’s all I’m saying. What I do know is the new (co)-main event at UFC 295 is going to be amazing today because these two young heavyweights are unbelievable heavyweights. It’s going to be an amazing fight, and it might be a better, more competitive fight than Jones vs. Miocic is.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Oct. 23-29)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Oct. 23-29

MMA Junkie Radio #3407: UFC 295 changes with Jon Jones injured, Aspinall vs. Pavlovich announced, more

Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” right here.


Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.

On Episode 3,407, the guys had a lot of big news to discuss. UFC 295 saw massive changes as the original main event between [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] and [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] is off. Jones suffered an injury in training, and the promotion announced [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] for the interim heavyweight title. Tune in!

Dana White hopes Jon Jones-Stipe Miocic winner will fight Sergei Pavlovich-Tom Aspinall winner

Dana White intends on rebooking Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, and he’d like to see the winner put off retirement for at least one more fight.

LAS VEGAS – UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] intends on rebooking UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] against [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag].

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) vs. Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) was scrapped from UFC 295 after Jones sustained a torn pectoral tendon that requires surgery. As a result, the UFC booked an interim title fight between [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), which co-headlines the Nov. 11 card at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“It’s one of those ones where if you know you know,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “It’s a badass fight with two young studs, and that’s going to be a fun one.”

White explained that it would have been offensive to offer Miocic an interim title fight. The plan is to have the winner of Pavlovich vs. Aspinall unify his belt with the winner of Jones vs. Miocic, which will be rebooked once Jones is healthy.

“One hundred percent (the winner will have to wait for Jones vs. Miocic to happen),” White said. “So here’s the deal: Jones and Stipe were supposed to fight. Jones gets hurt, right? Eight, nine months he’s going to be out. You don’t strip him or take him out of the rankings after a year, right?

“So, if you’re Sergei and Aspinall, you’re getting the opportunity to fight for the interim title anyway now. So, yeah, they’re going to have to wait until this fight happens. This fight was set up; this fight needs to happen. Two of the biggest legends in the sport want the fight, (and) the fans want the fight.”

When asked what happens if Jones and Miocic decide to retire after fighting each other, White said he’d like it if the winner unified their belt with the interim champ.

“To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. So whoever wins that fight, it would be nice to see them stick around and defend it,” White said. “That we can’t determine until it happens.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

Tom Aspinall opens as slight betting favorite over Sergei Pavlovich in UFC 295 interim title fight

Tom Aspinall is favored by oddsmakers to claim interim heavyweight gold against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295.

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] is favored by oddsmakers to claim interim heavyweight gold against [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] at UFC 295.

After an injury to champion Jon Jones derailed his planned title defense against Stipe Miocic at the UFC’s 30th anniversary show on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York, the promotion changed course and booked Pavlovich (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) vs. Aspinall (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) for the interim belt.

Although Pavlovich is riding the superior wave of momentum with a six-fight knockout streak inside the octagon, oddsmakers gave Aspinall the edge when setting the opening line for the contest.

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According to DraftKings, Aspinall is the -130 favorite (meaning a $130 bet is needed to yield a $100 return), while Pavlovich sits as the +110 underdog (meaning a $100 bet would return $130) for the upcoming fight, which serves as the co-main event of the card.

Check out the latest fight card for UFC 295 below:

  • Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka – for vacant light heavyweight title
  • Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall – for interim heavyweight title
  • Jessica Andrade vs. Mackenzie Dern
  • Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini
  • Matt Frevola vs. Benoit Saint Denis
  • Kevin Borjas vs. Joshua Van
  • Stephen Erceg vs. Matt Schnell
  • Loopy Godinez vs. Tabatha Ricci
  • Jared Gordon vs. Mark Madsen
  • Nurullo Aliev vs. Mateusz Rebecki
  • Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Nazim Sadykhov
  • Dennis Buzukja vs. Jamall Emmers
  • John Castaneda vs. Kyung Ho Kang

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

Tom Aspinall relishes UFC 295 interim title fight vs. ‘most dangerous guy’ Sergei Pavlovich on short notice

Tom Aspinall won’t be making any excuses about his short-notice UFC 295 interim title fight however it goes. “No, I’m f*cking coming to win,” he says.

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] knew something big was happening the moment he received a phone Tuesday from “one of the highest-up people in the UFC” who never calls him. The person called inquiring if he could be ready to fight in just under two weeks at UFC 295.

Then at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Aspinall got the call: With heavyweight champion Jon Jones injured and forced out of his fight with Stipe Miocic, the offer was for Aspinall to face fellow top contender [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] for the interim title in the UFC 295 co-main event Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden.

Of course he said yes.

“Got the old middle-of-the-night phone call,” Aspinall told The MacLife. “And they were like, ‘Oh, sorry, I’ll be quick. Just get some sleep.’ I’m like, ‘How the f*ck am I supposed to sleep after you just told me I’m fighting for the heavyweight title?’ Like, I can’t go back to sleep.”

It might not be exactly how Aspinall drew it up, but this is the golden opportunity the British standout has desired ever since joining the UFC in July 2020. Since then, Aspinall has been on a tear going 6-1 with six finishes and his only defeat the result of a freak accident in which he blew out his knee 15 seconds into a July 2022 UFC Fight Night headliner vs. Curtis Blaydes.

Aspinall returned from that devastating injury after a year-long layoff this past July when he dismantled Marcin Tybura for a TKO win just 73 seconds into their UFC Fight Night 224 headliner.

Coming off that victory, Aspinall (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) believes he is now facing “the most dangerous guy in the UFC” as Pavlovich (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) has a first-round knockout in each of his past six fights, most recently against Blaydes in April.

“I think that Pavlovich is the most dangerous to be honest. I think he’s the most dangerous guy in the UFC,” Aspinall said. “To be honest, it’s f*cking the most dangerous situation you can have – fighting the most dangerous guy in the UFC on two weeks’ notice. But I’m willing to put it all on the line. This is my absolute dream.

“F*cking I’m doing a (Michael) Bisping, aren’t I? Bisping took it on two weeks’ notice. Bisping did it on two weeks’ notice and won against (Luke) Rockhold (at UFC 199), so why can’t I do it?”

While two weeks’ notice for his first shot at UFC gold is less than ideal, Aspinall said he won’t be coming off the couch. He’s been in the gym training. And while he wishes he had more than two weeks to specifically prepare for Pavlovich, Aspinall has no problem with the situation he’s facing.

“I’m a dedicated guy. I’m in the gym anyway,” Aspinall said. “I would’ve liked longer than two weeks, you know what I mean, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I’ll be ready, no excuses. I’ll be ready to go, and I’m coming to win. I’m not coming to make any excuses or anything like that. The narrative of this fight isn’t gonna be I’ve taken the fight on two weeks’ notice. No, I’m f*cking coming to win.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

Social media reacts to Jon Jones injury, Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall for interim title at UFC 295

The MMA community had a plethora of thoughts on Jon Jones injury and the introduction of an interim heavyweight championship at UFC 295.

The UFC’s 30th anniversary event took a devastating hit on Saturday when it was announced [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] had suffered a serious injury that will remove him from his heavyweight title defense against [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] at UFC 295.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) sustained a torn pectoral muscle in training less than three weeks from the event, forcing him out of the Nov. 11 contest vs. Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) at Madison Square Garden in New York. As a result, an interim belt will be introduced as [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) will take on [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC).

The stunning turn of events yielded a plethora of reactions from the MMA community, and you can check out the top social media posts on the situation below.

Injured Jon Jones out of UFC 295 vs. Stipe Miocic; Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall interim title fight set

The UFC 295 main event between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic is off, and an interim heavyweight title fight is in place.

One of the most anticipated UFC fights in recent memory is no longer happening.

Heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] is out of his UFC 295 title fight against all-time great [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] after he suffered a torn pectoral muscle in training that will sideline him for eight months, UFC CEO Dana White announced late Tuesday night. White’s announcement on social media included video of the incident.

With Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) out, Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) will not remain on the card for undisclosed reasons. As a result, top contenders [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] and [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] will compete for the interim championship in the Nov. 11 co-main event at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The vacant light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira has been elevated to headline UFC 295.

Pavlovich (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) rides a six-fight winning streak into the matchup. Since a loss to Alistair Overeem in his UFC debut, Pavlovich has rattled off wins over Marcelo Golm, Maurice Greene, Shamil Abdurakhimov, Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa, and Curtis Blaydes. All six wins were first-round knockouts.

Aspinall (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) bounced back from a devastating 2022 knee injury when he finished Marcin Tybura with strikes in 73 seconds this past July. The win maintained his 100 percent promotional finishing rate in victories.

With the changes, the UFC 295 lineup includes:

  • Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka – for vacant light heavyweight title
  • Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall – for interim heavyweight title
  • Jessica Andrade vs. Mackenzie Dern
  • Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini
  • Matt Frevola vs. Benoit Saint Denis
  • Kevin Borjas vs. Joshua Van
  • Stephen Erceg vs. Matt Schnell
  • Loopy Godinez vs. Tabatha Ricci
  • Jared Gordon vs. Mark Madsen
  • Nurullo Aliev vs. Mateusz Rebecki
  • Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Nazim Sadykhov
  • Dennis Buzukja vs. Jamall Emmers
  • John Castaneda vs. Kyung Ho Kang

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.