Tom Aspinall burst onto the UFC scene with some explosive performances, which led him to the interim heavyweight title and eventually, the undisputed title. He was slated to fight Jon Jones, which didn’t happen, and now, some fans are worried about who can give him a tough challenge. While we can never be sure who steps up to give Aspinall a run for his money, former UFC fighter Josh Thomson believes there is one heavyweight contender who can dominate the Englishman in one aspect of the game.
We already know that the heavyweight champion has the shortest average fight time in the division at 2 minutes and 2 seconds. But recently, another number came to light about the amount of time he spent on the ground, and it turns out to be just 0.01 seconds. This happened when he fought and lost to Curtis Blaydes in the first fight due to a knee injury. But Josh Thomson believes that Blaydes could control Aspinall on the ground if they meet the next time, but his co-host on the Weighing In podcast did not seem to agree with that.
“He has a loss against Curtis based upon the injury to his knee, but he has faced Curtis twice. He’s got one win and one loss due to injury. And Curtis in no way was able to put him on his back or be in the top position,” said John McCarthy on YouTube. Well, Josh Thomson did not disagree with that explanation, but he believes there is another fighter who can dominate Tom Aspinall on the ground.
If you’re wondering who that is, note that it’s not Jon Jones, even though he’s got a good ground game and overwhelmed Ciryl Gane on his heavyweight debut. Josh Thomson’s pick to break Tom Aspinall’s ground time record is none other than Jailton Almeida. Well, it’s not surprising to see him pick the Brazilian, who has the record for the most ground control time in a fight, which stands at 21 minutes and 10 seconds, and even manhandled Curtis Blaydes.
“You know, the fight that kind of makes me feel like he’s going to end up losing a lot of those seconds is against Jailton Almeida because the way Jailton Almeida threw Curtis Blaydes around,” Josh Thomson added. Meanwhile, John McCarthy reminded his co-host that even Jailton Almeida has his limitations on how hard he can go when it comes to his ground game. “I agree with you. He did. There’s no doubt, but he burned out because of it,” the veteran referee replied.
MMA: UFC Fight Night – London – Aspinall vs Tybura Jul 22, 2023 London, UNITED KINGDOM Tom Aspinall red gloves enters the arena before the fight against Marcin Tybura blue gloves during UFC Fight Night at O2 Arena. London O2 Arena UNITED KINGDOM, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xPerxHaljestamx 20230722_szo_om2_0164 A
It’s interesting that John McCarthy has dismissed Curtis Blaydes’s ability to take Tom Aspinall to the ground because the heavyweight champion once deemed him as his toughest challenge, at least, stylistically. But while he’s done with ‘Razor’, the Manchester native will probably meet Jailton Almeida in the future because the Brazilian plans to end Aspinall’s hype.
Jailton Almeida wants to take Tom Aspinall into ‘deep waters’
During a recent interview, Jailton Almeida shared his unfiltered thoughts on Tom Aspinall, claiming that calling him the best heavyweight would be wrong since fans haven’t seen him “fighting from his back.” Moreover, Almeida also claimed that there has been no fighter that Aspinall has faced who gave him the kind of pressure that would have tested him, as he claims to be way more impactful than the Manchester native and would completely dominate him on the ground.
“We haven’t seen [Aspinall] fighting from his back, which is something that I’m really curious to see how he goes about it.. I think that there’s still some stuff to be checked with Aspinall. He’s a fantastic fighter, but I think there’s still some things that we need to see,” Almeida told Ariel Helwani. “I’m more explosive than anybody [Aspinall] has faced, especially on the grappling side of things — I think it would probably develop as a grappling fight… I think that I’ll be able to take him into deep waters once we get to the grappling side of things.”
Well, a lot of things have been said, but it’s not Jailton Almeida who’s next; it’s Ciryl Gane. Tom Aspinall has to go through the Frenchman first, as he claims that this is the fourth time they’ve been paired up for a fight. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on Josh Thomson’s statements in the comments section down below.
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