Tom Aspinall is an example to the new generation of heavyweight mixed martial artists, according to the UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.
The Briton saw his interim heavyweight championship upgraded to the real thing several weeks ago following Jon Jones’ formal retirement from the sport — a move which came amid a prolonged pursuit of the now-former champ which ultimately did not bear fruit.
But with the first formal defence of his world title to come in October against Ciryl Gane and the heavyweight division seemingly back on track, Du Plessis says that more fighters should take a leaf from Aspinall’s book — a fighter he says has all the athletic tools to go down as an all-time great.
“The first time you saw Tom Aspinall fight, you knew there was something special,” Du Plessis said in comments to BetWay South Africa, as noted by MMA Fighting.
“He’s almost the next generation of heavyweight, in my opinion, where he moves like a middleweight. He’s light on his feet. He can grapple, he can strike, he can wrestle, so I’m really happy for him. I think he’s going to be a great champion and I think he’s going to be a champion for a long time.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of heavyweights on his level right now.”
It is difficult to disagree with Du Plessis’ assertion. In Aspinall’s nine fights in the UFC cage, he has been defeated just once — and that came via a freak knee injury seconds into the opening round of a fight with Curtis Blaydes in July 2022. Aspinall would avenge that loss almost two years to the day later.
In Aspinall’s UFC wins — all nine of them — just one fighter, Andrei Arlovski, has seen the end of the first round. He was defeated by submission 69 seconds into the second round.
