Tom Aspinall wasn’t supposed to be in this situation. At least, he wasn’t supposed to be in this situation yet. Since bursting into the UFC in the middle of 2020, the 28-year-old heavyweight contender has repeatedly expressed his desire to take things slowly and progress through the rankings rather than be catapulted into the top 10 before he’d been able to gain the required experience in MMA’s premier brand.

Yet here we are, as 20,000 fans descend on the 02 Arena on Saturday for the UFC’s first outing on British soil in 3 years with Aspinall headlining the event against the vastly more experienced Alexander Volkov.

The Brit, who hails from Greater Manchester, hasn’t even fought in front of a real live crowd during his four-fight win streak in the UFC due to the pandemic never mind in front of 20,000 fans as the main attraction. He’s never been in this situation before.

On the other side of the Octagon stands the intimidating Alexander Volkov who HAS been here before. Volkov hasn’t just headlined shows in arenas across the globe during his 13 year professional MMA career, the Russian has literally been here before in the main event at the 02 Arena when he smashed Fabricio Werdum to pieces and picked up the Performance of the Night bonus in 2018.

In truth, the UFC were not planning on putting Aspinall in this situation this early into his career. When talk began to spread that the UFC were definitely coming to London in March, Aspinall’s opponent was supposed to be Shamil Abdurakhimov, in a more logical step forward in the young heavyweight’s progression.

However, when it became apparent that neither Darren Till or Leon Edwards would be appearing on this initial return to the UK, the UFC needed a main event and Volkov was drafted in to provide Aspinall with his toughest test to date.

Volkov, who will be entering his 44th professional fight, has lost nearly as many fights as Aspinall has taken part in such is the disparity in experience between the two. Volkov, at 34-9 with 22 knockouts, has taken on some of the best heavyweights in the world throughout his career holding victories over Werdum and the legendary Alistair Overeem.

The only people to beat him in the UFC are Curtis Blaydes, Derrick Lewis and Cyril Gane. That’s the level of competitor the former Bellator Heavyweight Champion is.

This will be the sixth time the 6 ft 7 Russian known as “Drago” walks out for a five-round UFC main event, going the distance against Blaydes and Gane.

On the other hand, Tom Aspinall has never fought longer than two rounds, with just 10 minutes and 59 seconds of Octagon time under his belt and this will be the first time he’s even trained for a five-rounder.

On paper, this looks like a mismatch and another case of the UFC trying to rush through a star in a key market but Aspinall is here on merit.

The 28-year-old who trains with Till at Team Kaobon and is a former sparring partner of Tyson Fury is ushering in a new wave of modern heavyweight mixed martial artists. Rather than simply relying on power to either smother an opponent with wrestling or looking to deliver a one-hitter quitter Aspinall, like Cyril Gane, is light on his feet and prioritises technique to beat opponents.

As expected from someone who acted as Fury’s sparring partner, Aspinall has incredibly precise and fast hands meaning he has been able to almost exclusively lean on his striking ability in stoppage wins over Jake Collier, Alan Baudot and Sergey Spivak.

However, he also has a high-level ground game that was briefly showcased when he tapped out former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski, the only man to push Aspinall past the opening round, thanks to father Andy a BJJ black belt and UK MMA pioneer.

It will take all of those skills to overcome Volkov, who is capable of mixing it up on the feet or on the mat with the best of them, and make inroads on fulfilling a wish that many UK MMA fans have had for years.

Michael Bisping was the first British UFC champion. We fell in love with the rebellious nature of Dan Hardy, the balls-to-the wall attitudes of Ross Pearson, Jimi Manuwa and Brad Pickett and still marvel at the skill of Leon Edwards and Darren Till. We’re lucky enough to be experiencing UK MMA’s “Golden Generation” with the emergence of Paddy Pimblett, Jack Shore, Arnold Allen, Molly McCann and Paul Craig but we’ve never had a real contender in the sport’s marquee division.

Securing a victory against Volkov would be the first step towards becoming a serious name in the heavyweight division. Passing him in the rankings would mean Aspinall’s name would have to be mentioned alongside Derrick Lewis, Blaydes, Tai Tuivasa, Stipe Miocic and Ciryl Gane to contend for Francis Ngannou’s belt.

Those type of big money fights could lead to the first UFC event in the UK to be held in a football stadium.

There will be a number of firsts for Tom Aspinall to overcome to defeat Alexander Volkov. Doing so would give UK MMA it’s first heavyweight star.

Photo Credits: Zuffa LLC