UPDATE: Tom Aspinall will now be facing Alexander Volkov on this card instead. As of this writing, there is no word on what caused the change in opponent.
[ORIGINAL REPORT: November 3, 2021, 7:00 AM]
Tom Aspinall will have a chance to become a top-10 heavyweight in the UFC.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Aspinall will face Shamil Abdurakhimov on March 19. The location of the fight is not known at this time, the main event of the card has also not been announced as Aspinall vs. Abdurakhimov is the only fight announced for the card.
Tom Aspinall (11-2) is coming off a first-round TKO win over Sergey Spivak in September. It was his fourth win inside the Octagon as he become one of the hottest prospects in the heavyweight division. After his win over Spivak, he said he just wanted to fight the person ranked ahead of him as he wants to take his time but that won’t be the case.
Aspinall made his promotional debut on Fight Island in July where he scored a 45-second TKO over Jake Collier. He followed it up with a TKO win over Alan Baudot in a 1:35 and then submitted Andrei Arlovski in just 79 seconds. He has yet to go past 2:30 of the first round in his career and is currently ranked 11th at heavyweight.
Shamil Abdurakhimov (20-6) is the eighth-ranked heavyweight is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Chris Daukaus at UFC 266. It marked his return to the sport after not fighting since UFC 242 in October of 2019 where he suffered a second-round TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes. The 40-year-old is 5-4 inside the Octagon with notable wins over Arlovski, Marcin Tybura, and Walt Harris. He has also headlined a UFC card against Derrick Lewis where he lost by fourth-round TKO.
Who do you think will win, Tom Aspinall or Shamil Abdurakhimov?
