UFC London: Aspinall vs Tybura - Jul 22 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Egg Shen]

Consider me fired up!

[David]

UK shows always seem to bring excitement and finishes, so I'm all set! Motherwell game first, then the main card with a few cans and a jumbo bag of Maltesers!

What a time to be alive!

[David]

I know it'll likely never happen, but how good would it be to see Aspinall face Jones? I actually think big Tom would win that fight relatively easily. Jones, I feel, would come undone against a true heavyweight with top tier skills. He's beefed up for the division, but you can tell by looking at him that he's not a natural heavyweight.

[Carbomb]

I'd like to believe so, but what is possibly Jones' most obnoxious trait is that he defies expectations. It would make me very happy to see someone deal out the beating to Jon Jones that he's had coming for so long, and particularly if it was Tom Aspinall. 

[Panhead]

Aspinall looked so smooth and relaxed in there. I thought he might be a bit pensive after the injury, but there was nothing of the sort. 

[Dai]

Thought the first 3 fights were awful. Thankfully when the bigger names got involved it turned into a fun show. Craig and Meatball fights were fun to watch, and the Fili/Wood fight was great for the first two rounds, but unfortunately had a dud R3. Fili must be kicking himself, he did bugger all in R3 and subsequently cost him his winners purse. Gifted it to Wood. 

Aspinall was really impressive, a big PPV Co Main Event is surely next for him. Or how about a Fight Night main event against Gane? Sounds like a belter. Dana will be smart and keep him away from Blaydes and Pavlovich. Jones always messes up, so surely it's not out of the realms of possibility that they try and chuck him on the Jones/Miocic card and then can step in if/when Jones fucks it up. 

[Egg Shen]

Big of a mixed bag. For a long period it felt like the UFC were in for a bit of a dud. Lots of statematey type decisions going on and unfortunately one of those nights that had fights that looked good on paper stylewise, but didn't really deliver in the cage, the o2 looked nowhere near full either, those prices killed them. Took Paul Craig to got the fucker started.

Echo what @Davidsaid, I want to see Aspinall/Jones. Not sure about beating Jones easily, but I want to see it. I just don't see Jon Jones taking that fight at this stage. I think we'll see him bow out post-Miocic. Aspinall is great though isn't he? he's breezing through good heavyweights with ease, just a different level of athlete compared to 90% of other heavyweight fighters coupled with the fact he's always train in some kind of combat discipline. He's making it look easy. Such a likeable guy too, want to see the guy succeed.

The Molly Meatball train has truly derailed. I'm not sure where I stand with Molly McCann, I like her in an interview setting but full understand why she pisses off other people. Really feels like he had that little stretch where the start aligned for her, she got the epic finish, she was riding Paddy's coattails and she was part of that classic London show. Reality has kicked in now though and it's faily clear she's found her level.

If you missed the prelims, you didn't miss a whole lot but the Johnny Parson/Danny Roberts fight was excellent. Mick Parkin looks another handy UK edition to heavyweight too.

Decent night.

 

[wandshogun09]

Echo what others are saying. Really couldn’t have gone any better for Aspinall, could it?

To return from a bad injury and a year on the shelf to come back in style and breeze through a big tough lump like Tybura was some statement. Granted, Tybura’s no world beater but he’s decent enough and given the questions on Aspinall after the layoff, I honestly had some nerves that Tybura might give him some issues. Needn’t have worried. Aspinall looked like he hadn’t missed a day. Still feels like we don’t know that much about him but that’s because he’s winning these fights so quickly and with such ease that we’re not getting a long look at him. And I’m not sure who can ask those questions of him out of the current crop of Heavyweights. There aren’t many. This was perfect though. Got that first fight back out of the way and it’s on to bigger and better things now.

Loved the post-fight stuff as well. Really like the idea him going to Paris and challenging the winner of Gane vs Spivac. Obviously the Gane fight is the more appealing one there, just because Aspinall’s already beat Spivac. Plus Gane is the bigger name having already mixed with Ngannou and Jones. Would be a good barometer to see how Aspinall looks against Gane in comparison to how those two did. And of course, name dropping Jones doesn’t hurt. He’s on Jones’ radar now as well.

Typically dickheaded and dismissive with the ‘lol’. It’s not much but the seed’s been planted. I really can’t see Jones hanging around for that though. I’m pretty much certain that he’s gonna retire after the Stipe fight and people will just run with the talk that he’s the GOAT and there’s no debate. Bollocks but you know that’s how it’s gonna go. Problem is I can’t see Stipe sticking around either. I get the feeling he’s been pretty much done for a while now but he’s been lured back by this Jones fight. Feels like Jones vs Stipe has ‘double retirement’ written all over it. Which probably leaves us with Aspinall vs Pavlovich for the vacant strap early next year.

Oh Julija Stoliarenko you fucking beauty!

Love it. This was supposed to be Molly McCann’s big rebound. The matchmakers overestimated her ability when they chucked her in with Erin Blanchfield last time and she got schooled. So throwing her on the London card here against a woman who was 10-7-2 and had gone 1-4 in the UFC, it was obvious what they were up to. But I mentioned in the opening post that I wouldn’t be shocked if Stoliarenko won. Just because she’s a submission specialist and Molly’s arse on the ground. Against my own judgment I still picked the ‘Meatball’ in the poll but I was chuffed to be wrong. That’s the UFC’s attempt to rebuild her down the shitter straight away.

8 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

The Molly Meatball train has truly derailed.

Really feels like he had that little stretch where the start aligned for her, she got the epic finish, she was riding Paddy's coattails and she was part of that classic London show. 

Even that though, it was all smoke and mirrors. Fair enough, she still had to pull off those back-to-back spinning elbow KOs. But it’s like everyone forgot she beat Luana Carolina and Hannah Goldy. The absolute bottom rung of the division. She had no business in there with Blanchfield, an actual prospect, but I’m glad they booked it. That was almost the Molly McCann equivalent of if they actually made that Topuria vs Pimblett fight. Just an awful matchup for Molly. But people got so swept up in those flashy spinning shit knockouts that they forgot it was a couple of nothing happening jobbers on the receiving end.

So yeah, this was supposed to be a gimme. Problem is, there are no gimmes when you’re not very good. And Molly McCann is simply not very good. Saw people all over Twitter going ‘LOL no way Molly lost?’ Like it was some massive upset. But this is genuinely about her level. Remember a year or so ago when people were saying Paddy and Molly were gonna main and co-main big stadium shows over here? Selling out Anfield and shit? 🤣 How’s that plan coming along?

Nathaniel Wood vs Andre Fili was a good fight. Enjoyed it. If the third round was as good as the first two rounds then this probably would’ve had FOTN sewn up. Really exciting first 10 minutes with the twists and turns, both hurting each other etc. But that last round they both seemed to take their foot off the gas a bit. Good fight on the whole though. Really like Wood at 145. I think he’s performing much better since moving up. Proof that cutting weight to gain a size advantage isn’t always the way to go.

Disappointed him and Lerone Murphy didn’t call each other out after they both won. That one’s been brewing for months now and there was a video the other day where they ran into each other at the hotel and had a little talk about it. There was also some talk after the show that both had been on about wanting to fight Edson Barboza next as well. Then the post-fight interviews came and…nothing. Just the old ‘I’ll fight whoever the UFC offer’ pish. No wonder these guys never seem to climb the ladder sometimes. Not saying they should fake beef or do a WWE style promo but at least call your shot. Give a name or if not, target a card you wanna get on or even just say you want someone in the Top 10 or something. Just something. You might just get what you want. Big Tommy Aspinall knows the score. He basically lined up his next year. Whether any of it actually happens remains to be seen but he’s at least thrown it out there and got people talking. 

Paul Craig vs Andre Muniz finally brought the main card to life.

Right from the staredown there you got the feeling it was gonna be good but you never know how two good grapplers matched against each other is gonna look. A lot of times it just descends into a subpar striking match. Thankfully these two decided to tangle on the ground a bit and it made for an exciting battle.

Really strong performance and win for Craig this. Especially as his 185 debut. He looked good. Muniz is no easy first fight in a new weight class so this was quite impressive. I think Muniz is a bit of a front runner though. As dangerous as he obviously can be on the mat, it seems like if he can’t just bulldoze and armbar the opponent early and the fight starts getting rough, he wilts. We saw it against Brendan Allen last time and again here. Not sure what’s next for Craig but he’s been calling out Bo Nickal. Interesting. I think I’d rather see Craig vs Brendan Allen though. Craig vs Gerald Meerschaert could be another fun one down the road. Some good fresh fights for Craig at Middleweight.

Fully agree with @Dai though, the opening 3 fights on the main card were surprisingly dull. Never expected Ziam vs Herbert or Murphy vs Culibao to be so lacklustre but the shocker for me was Davey Grant vs Daniel Marcos somehow being a flop. That was my ‘one to watch’ for a reason but it just never got going. I’m blaming Marcos. Sod it. He looked fun in his debut but Grant never has anything but bangers. Marcos dragged him to maybe the most nothing fight of his career so yeah I’m blaming him. Thought the judging was wonky in that one as well. I had Grant winning myself. Oh well.

The prelims weren’t much to write home about either. Mostly forgettable but there were a couple of bright spots.

As @Egg Shen says, the Jonny Parsons vs Danny Roberts fight was the highlight. Cracking fight, no surprise it got FOTN. Nice debut for Parsons. Not sure what happens with Roberts now though. He’ll always give you a solid to excellent fight but he’s mid 30s and floundering now. Just not happening for him unfortunately.

Aside from that, Joel Alvarez vs Marc Diakiese was decent but marred by the clash of heads that felt like a momentum shifter which led pretty much directly into the finishing sequence.

Mick Parkin looked alright by Heavyweight’s rock bottom standards but didn’t blow anyone away either. They were talking him up but I don’t know. If you’re something special then you should be getting a slug like Pogues out of there really. He won comfortably enough though.

Chris Duncan had a decent showing against a dangerous opponent in Ashmouz. Redeemed himself after a shite UFC debut.

And Shauna Bannon shat the bed in her debut against Bruna Brasil. Thought she was terrible, to be honest. Maybe there were some of the old Octagon jitters and maybe there’s better to come. Benefit of the doubt and all that. But as a first impression, I thought she looked crap. Early days but it feels like she’s gonna basically be Molly McCann version 2 but less annoying. They’ll hype her up and her confidence will convince some she’s better than she is, then she’ll get trounced by bang average opposition.

The Fight Pass opener Jafel Filho vs Daniel Barez was a really fun 3 minutes if you missed it though. Didn’t have any expectations, I’d only seen Filho in his debut against Mokaev and I’d never seen Barez. This was the perfect fight to kick off the card really. Action packed, didn’t outstay its welcome and a great comeback and finish from Filho. Really looked like Barez was gonna overwhelm him but Filho weathered the storm and got the sub. Good stuff.

Yeah couple of highlights but all in all it wasn’t much of a show. A lot of the fights just felt flat to me, like they never got out of second gear. Big Tom’s comeback was pretty much perfect though and that made it all worthwhile.

Edited July 24, 2023 by wandshogun09

[WeeAl]

Tom Aspinall had himself a night right there. As perfect a comeback night as he could have hoped for. Tybura is as solid a test as you'll get right under that small class of tip-top guys of the division (which is also shrinking), Aspinall proved here that he's ready for the sternest tests that he can be given. I loved his post fight interview too, where he just told Bisping to give him the microphone and that he'll tell him exactly what's going to happen. Good on you Tom. I hope it works out for the big lad. It can too. 

It's unlikely Jones or Stipe are staying around for very long after this, as we've all speculated. As well as that, depending on how the fight goes it could roll right into a re-match. Stipe having sat out for a couple of years is the only thing that's making me doubt my opinion on this, but i've long thought that Miocic, at the very least, gives Jones an extremely difficult night. If this fight happened after Stipe/Cormier III, I'd have picked Stipe all day. Everything I see is that it's a foregone conclusion Jones beats him. Jones has fought one fight at Heavyweight and for that W, he got handed the keys to the safe by Francis Ngannou. It was the easiest nights pay he ever got. A half checked out Miocic is going to be a much harder night that that. On top of that, Jones himself isn't exactly the man he used to be nor would any of us be surprised to learn that his foot is at least half way out the door as well. 

So for Aspinall, fighting Gane (hopefully/probably) should give a bit of time to see what happens following the HW title fight. I'm expecting either a vacant title fight like Wand, between Aspinall and big Sergei. Or else they knock off a contender between themselves while Jones and Stipe decide if the money worked enough for them that they want to do it again, brother. 

Paul Craig looked great down at Middleweight. A lean, mean, Terminator of a man is what he looked like on Saturday night. That W will put him in the rankings. If they have another European card coming up, fights with Hermansson, Dolidze or Imavov could all be good next steps. I like the Brendan Allen fight too that Wand mentioned. Really and truly though, I wouldn't mind a jot if they stuck him straight in there with Marvin Vettori, who's still ranked quite highly but realistically is dead in the water as far as advancement goes. Let Craig put a few of those elbows on Chunk and see if it'll knock some brains into him. 

[Egg Shen]

Molly McCann has announced she'll move down next time out, rebirth and all that...