Despite wanting to get his own back after the way their first fight ended, Tom Aspinall has not had an enjoyable training camp to prepare for his rematch with Curtis Blaydes.
The interim UFC heavyweight champion has called this contest his dream fight because he gets the opportunity to get revenge in front of his home fans in Manchester at UFC 304.
But, with the wrestling heavy style that Blaydes brings to the table, this has been a training camp which Aspinall won't be wanting to relive quite so soon.
The champion came into martial arts through jiu-jitsu with his father being a coach and whilst we've seen glimpses of his grappling inside the Octagon, we are still yet to see how he fares against a top wrestler.
Aspinall has been leaving no stone unturned and that means putting himself through the ringer each day in training, to make sure that he is ready for what could be a very physically exhausting and draining fight.
Tom Aspinall Has Put In The Tough Grappling Rounds To Prepare For Curtis Blaydes Rematch
Aspinall reflected on his training camp just a few days out from fight night during a recent interview with New York Post Sports.
Training in the north of England, the Brit has surrounded himself with other big fighters and athletes to ensure that they all get the best and most suitable training possible.
That being said, whilst he's excited to step back inside the Octagon on July 27, this camp has been gruelling to say the least.
He spoke about how in preparing for Blaydes' wrestling, he has been constantly putting himself in bad positions against big bodies which will be incredibly valuable for him once the cage door closes but it hasn't been a fun cycle at the same time.
That's probably where I spent the most of this camp is on my back with guys on top of me. It's not been a very, Curtis Blaydes is not a very comfortable guy to train for. Do you know what I mean, you're getting up off your back. See the way I work it is I work it with multiple training partners so I'll be starting on bottom, I get them off, the energy that it takes to get a big guy off is, you know, you expend a lot of energy. Then I restart on my back with a fresh partner, like it's exhausting man, it's just exhausting training for this guy and I've done everything I can so we'll see on Saturday how it goes.