Tom Aspinall believes that, on paper, his UFC London main event against Alexander Volkov is a terrible matchup for him.
Aspinall is set for his first UFC main event in just his fifth UFC fight while Volkov will be headlining his sixth event. It's an intriguing matchup as Aspinall has run through all his competition, but Volkov is an experienced veteran and has fought the who's who of the heavyweight division. With that, even the Brit believes that, on paper, this should be a fight he loses.
"I mean, I've trained for five rounds. Like you say, I've never gone past the second. So, new territory for me. I'm completely aware that if you look at the stats on paper, this is a complete mismatch in his favor," Aspinall said at media day. "I'm aware of that. Like, he has got so much more experience than me, he's fought far more higher-level guys than me, he's been in the top 10 for I don't know how many years at this point. I'm just an up-and-coming guy breaking (into) the top 10, on paper. But on paper doesn't really mean nothing when it comes to actual fighting."
Although Tom Aspinall believes on paper this is a fight Alexander Volkov should win, the betting odds have the Brit as a -125 favorite with the Russian as a +105 underdog. With that, Vegas and the public have been backing the Brit in this one, thinking he will win. However, as Aspinall says, paper means nothing when it comes to an actual fight.
Tom Aspinall enters the fight riding a seven-fight win streak and coming off a first-round TKO over Serghei Spivac in September. Prior to that, he submitted Andrei Arlovski which is the biggest win of his career but should he beat Volkov, it will propel Aspinall into the top-5.
Do you think Tom Aspinall will beat Alexander Volkov at UFC London?