Rising heavyweight Tom Aspinall and divisional veteran Alexander Volkov are expected to headline UFC’s return to London, England later this year, per a report.
Volkov and Aspinall are set to serve as the main event for a March 19th UFC “Fight Night” event from the O2 Arena, per a report from Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
The matchup gives Aspinall a chance to compete in his first UFC main event fight. His short run with the promotion has been explosive thus far, stopping all four of his opponents in the cage. This includes two wins from last year, which came against Andrei Arlovski and Serghei Spivac.
Aspinall was first initially booked to face Shamil Abdurakhimov in a non-headlining fight on this card. It is not known what the plan is for Abdurakhimov now that this matchup has been booked.
Volkov Returns To Familiar Headlining Position
Volkov has fought some of the top names at heavyweight for most of his 11-fight UFC career. He is no stranger to headlining cards, as the new booking is scheduled to be his sixth time in the main event spot.
Volkov is coming off a win, as his last fight was a unanimous decision victory over Marcin Tybura in October at UFC 267. His last main event fight was in June 2021, when he lost to now-interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane.
Aspinall is just one of the many England-based fighters that are expected for the show. Earlier today, it was reported that Paddy Pimblett will also return on the card against Kazula Vargas.
The event marks UFC’s first time in London in over three years, as the COVID-19 pandemic has limited the number of locations they can travel to.
With this main event announced, here is the updated lineup for UFC London:
Heavyweight Bout: Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
Lightweight Bout: Paddy Pimblett vs. Kazula Vargas
Featherweight Bout: Mike Grundy vs. Makwan Amirkhani
Bantamweight Bout: Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
Flyweight Bout: Molly McCann vs. Luana Carolina
Flyweight Bout: Muhammad Mokaev vs. Cody Durden
Strawweight Bout: Elise Reed vs. Cory McKenna
Flyweight Bout: Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento
How do you think Tom Aspinall will do in his very first UFC main event fight?
