- 09/11/2023
Tom Aspinall previews UFC interim heavyweight title fight with Pavlovich
Tom Aspinall (13-3, fighting out of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England) is determined take down a top contender by delivering a statement win over Pavlovich and clinching the interim title
No. 4 UFC heavyweight
10 wins by knockout, three wins via submission
12 first-round finishes
100% fight finishing rate
Tom Aspinall (13-3, fighting out of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England) is determined take down a top contender by delivering a statement win over Pavlovich and clinching the interim title
No. 4 UFC heavyweight
10 wins by knockout, three wins via submission
12 first-round finishes
100% fight finishing rate
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 hello hello so first of all welcome to New York I know it's a place you always
00:06 wanted to visit at this point does it feel like a different sort of fight week
00:10 because you had little notice or right now you're here you're doing all the
00:12 media it's just like any old week you're coming into it's just like any old week
00:16 mate I've been here a little bit longer this time because I'm used to fighting in
00:20 London so I've been here for like four days already got a little time to chill
00:26 and get used to the time change and stuff but yeah regular fight week mate
00:31 you've mentioned how you're gonna do a bit spin for this fight I remember when
00:34 he fought rock cold he said oh the lack of notice meant he couldn't overthink it
00:38 are you feeling the same way exactly the same exactly the same honestly usually
00:42 with like a 10 week fight camp I've got so much time to like it's like just a
00:47 massive build-up whereas this time especially because I didn't have my visa
00:51 that took a lot as well so I didn't train didn't have my visa and I was just
00:57 scrambling around like last minute before you know it they just throw me
01:00 into New York I'm here don't even have time to think about the fight so I think
01:04 it's working to my advantage so far but obviously I've not fought yet so we'll
01:09 see we'll see mate Saturday night that said it was pretty obvious this was the
01:14 guy you were gonna fight anyway right it seemed like he was the logical next
01:17 opponent for you so you've been preparing for him even if you haven't been in camp
01:20 you've been preparing for this guy for a while no oh so in that case what are you
01:25 expecting you know they were talking about he's that you know very dangerous
01:28 early on so are you so maybe the tactics should be all let's take him into deep
01:31 waters and see how he does there or do you rely on your own ability to get them
01:34 out of there early and just be aggressive from the opening bell I don't
01:38 know I think it's heavyweight MMA you got to see what happens he's a very very
01:43 dangerous guy as am I yeah mate I'm just focused on going in there and enjoying
01:50 it like this is my absolute dream fighting in Madison Square Garden
01:53 heavyweight title Pavlovich like everything is coming together and I'm
01:59 just gonna go out there and do my thing and enjoy it what's it mean to fight in Madison Square Garden
02:04 can we switch it's someone who doesn't ask shit questions please no it's pretty
02:09 obviously it's amazing it's amazing I would not I would rather fight in
02:12 Madison Square Garden than anywhere else in the world so very excited about it
02:16 last one for me Chael Sonnen says the winner of this fight is the real
02:19 heavyweight champion I'm curious if you agree well if Chael says it if he says
02:24 it I will definitely agree I am not arguing with that guy we see what that
02:27 guy gets up to I do not want to argument with him so I would agree
02:33 Who do you think would be your most logical next opponent when you said no to the Oster disaster
02:40 I wasn't really saying no to the fact that he was the most logical next
02:44 opponent I was saying no to the fact that I was preparing specifically for
02:47 him I wasn't preparing really for anybody I was preparing for nothing I
02:53 was just in the gym training helping other training partners who's got fights
02:56 coming up and stuff so I wasn't really preparing for anybody
02:59 what did you make of Sergei's last fight because when you fought Curtis Blades a
03:04 lot of people seem surprised that Curtis wasn't shooting for takedowns but I guess
03:08 if you watch that fight back Curtis was landing a lot of strikes Sergei was just
03:12 walking kind of walking through them and walking through Curtis's power so what
03:15 did you make of his last performance yes I mean I was also surprised that he
03:20 wasn't going to take down but like you say he did have a lot of success just
03:23 with he was landing so maybe you believe that one of them was gonna land and
03:28 put his lights out you know what I mean so maybe he just got a little bit I
03:32 wouldn't say greedy but he just got you know he was having success so he was
03:35 just sticking with that so I wasn't too surprised I guess and the final one for me I know a
03:39 lot of fans are obviously excited for John Jones and Stipe but it seems like
03:43 in terms of an actual competitive fight they seems more interested in you and
03:47 Sergei because you're new two new names to the top of the heavyweight division
03:50 you're you have like the record for shortest fight time and everything so
03:53 have you got a sense of that that like these hardcore fight fans seem more
03:57 intrigued by this fight than the original main event I don't know because
04:02 I've not been looking on social media to be honest I'm just staying away from all
04:05 that like I've had a really really short time basically not a time to prepare
04:10 let's be honest two weeks isn't long enough to prepare for a fight but yeah
04:16 I don't have any distractions or any I'm just not into that like other people's
04:20 opinions or other people's opinions and I just stay away from that shit to be
04:23 honest I'm doing my own thing I'm here to win of course and I'm not letting
04:29 anyone's opinions or whatever sidetrack me like that's their business and I'm
04:33 not gonna do that thing
04:35 Tom down here to your right piggybacking off what Jose said there about Jones and Stipe
04:42 obviously the reward would be fighting one of them at some point later this
04:46 or later next year how are you putting that to the back of your mind ahead of
04:50 this fight because I know that you've said before on record that you wanted to
04:53 fight Jones and be the first man to hand him a legitimate loss and then obviously
04:57 the prospect of fighting Stipe who's considered the greatest heavyweight of
05:01 all time is a mouthwatering one for yourself so how are you putting that to the back of your mind?
05:06 it's quite easy to put it to the back of my mind to be honest I've got this
05:09 absolutely massive Russian gonna come at me on Saturday throwing absolute bombs so
05:14 if I was to think past that that would be a little bit silly so I'm
05:18 just focused on Pavlovich right now I'm not thinking about anything else at the moment
05:23 and I know the fight hasn't rolled around yet but it wasn't that long ago before you got into the UFC that you were struggling to have fights and that you made the decision to
05:31 pack it in for a little bit is it a bit surreal now to know that you're gonna be co-headlining at the greatest combat sports arena in the world?
05:39 yeah I guess so but I kind of expected it as well you know I've had a couple of tough times earlier in my career and stuff with injuries and with not being able to get matches and I was really struggling for money at a few points as well which was tough because I've got children and stuff so
05:54 yeah I mean it was but also on the other hand like I expected to be here I expected to be UFC heavyweight champion I expected to fight in New York one day and
06:06 yeah so it is and it isn't like when I think back about how far I've come and stuff
06:12 it's good but I don't really have time to do that I think that's something I'll look at maybe when I've retired because at the minute I'm just like in the moment at the minute I'm just looking forward to Saturday and I'll think about all that stuff probably when I'm done with the sport
06:24 and the odds are seemingly stacked against you I mean taking this fight on two weeks notice is defying the odds something that you're relishing that prospect?
06:35 I like that I like it a lot to be honest I'm fighting the scariest guy in MMA in my opinion in the worst circumstances possible without a training camp but I obviously think I can win like I'm not the kind of guy who shows up for money or
06:53 you know I signed a contract to showing up if I don't think I'm going to win like I truly truly believe that the women's side of the number one win over absolute winner of find a way to win no more what the circumstances so
07:16 Oh, hello mate. - Hello mate. We touched on Bispin before and obviously he's been there and done this, and as he's not about this week, has he given you any advice on how to deal with this moment?
07:27 Yeah, I mean being Bispin, Bispin is like my dear friend, I absolutely love Bispin, but before that, before we were friends, I was like a Bispin fanboy, I still am a Bispin fanboy like,
07:38 I think what he's done for UK MMA, and just MMA in general is absolutely unbelievable. Yeah, Bispin's always giving me advice, we're friends, we speak all the time,
07:49 yeah, he just tells me to just enjoy the moment, don't let it overwhelm you. And that's what I intend on doing, because that's what I do in my best work, I'm not going to go in there on Saturday mate,
07:58 I'm not going to take it too serious, not life or death mate, this is a sport, and I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to enjoy myself, win or lose, I'm going to enjoy myself on Saturday night, I can't wait.
08:08 Talk to me about what it would be like to be the third British champion, obviously we haven't had a lot, and it seems like MMA has just taken off in the country, and we could have a heavyweight champ by the weekend.
08:19 Yeah, UK MMA right now is absolutely wild, it's so, like the level of the guys in the UK for such a small country is unbelievable. To be the third heavyweight, sorry the third UK champion, and the first UK heavyweight champion is something,
08:36 yeah, that's what dreams are made of, but again, I'll think about that stuff mate when I've retired, like right now I've got big fights to win, massive fight on Saturday, and all that stuff will be amazing, but that's something for the kids and the grandkids when they're a bit older.
08:52 Speaking to your dad Andy the other day, he was telling me a story about how he quit his job, and to coach you and your brother, and 18 years later here we are, about a headline or co-headline in MSG, what would it mean to put that title on your dad's shoulder on Saturday night?
09:09 Well that's the most important thing for me, like, ask anybody who I've ever trained with, like I've trained at plenty different gyms all over the world, obviously, I've been training mate, I've been involved in martial arts since I was 8 years old and I'm 30, so it's been a long time, it's been plenty gyms, it's been plenty travel, there's been a lot,
09:31 and every single person in every single gym will know my father because he's there, literally every single session, literally every session near enough from the time of me being 8 years old to me now being 30 years old, he's been there, so yeah, that'll mean everything to me, to give him the title.
09:48 Tom, just over here, just going off of that, you know he's been such a massive part of your career, what was it like giving the news to him when you first heard that you would be taking this opportunity?
10:01 Well, he actually found out last, because, so the UFC called me early in the morning at like 4am, I accepted the fight, and they announced it straight away, which is something that I didn't realise that they were going to do, I thought they were like, I don't know, leave it for a while, or whatever, maybe I'll let me sign the contract first, but yeah they announced it like instantly at 4am, but I don't know what time it was in Vegas, but it was 4am UK time,
10:27 my dad woke up at like 9am, or whatever, and obviously 4 or 5 hours had passed, and the whole world knew about it and he had no idea, so he rung me up and was like, what's this about you fighting Pavlovic in like 2 weeks, so yeah he was last, but I feel like I'm ready to go, at the end of the day it's me who's got to step in there and if I feel ready, of course if he turns around and says listen, you shouldn't do it, I will definitely listen to that, but he didn't say that, like he said, he was happy with it.
10:56 And you have been matched up with Sergei before in the past, obviously those fights didn't happen, did that give any advantage in terms of the short preparation that you've had?
11:08 I don't know, because it was a couple of years ago now I was supposed to fight him, like the last time I was supposed to fight him, I think we've both evolved so much, especially, I think I've improved a lot since then, you know I know his style and his tendencies and stuff, but the guy is straight up dangerous, I'm not even going to like beat around the bush and bullshit it, like the guy is really really dangerous if you play his game, so I kind of know what to expect, but I've had a lot of fights at this point, and it doesn't always work out the way you think it's going to work out watching it,
11:37 I think it's going to work out watching it on TV and then stepping in there in front of 20,000 people and millions around the world, it doesn't always work out like you imagine in your mind, so I think I know what I'm up against, but I don't really know until I step in there on Saturday.
11:50 And you've never made it into the third round, so are you anticipating that this could go the distance, and how have you been preparing yourself physically for that?
11:58 I mean, I don't want it to go into the third round, if I can knock him out with the first punch I will do, if I can take him down and submit him in 30 seconds I definitely will do that as well, but if I've got to go 5, I was keeping my body in decent shape, ideally I would have liked 10 weeks, but I've not had that obviously, but I'm a professional athlete and I take my job very serious, so I'm always in decent shape.
12:23 And you've said in the past that there's been some aspects of your game that you haven't been able to show yet, because of the short Oxygen time, so do you think we see a different Tom Aspinall on Saturday?
12:33 Oh, there's a million things I've not had a chance to show, but on the other hand there's probably a million things that he's not had a chance to show as well, he's got really short Oxygen time as well, the same as that goes for every UFC athlete, MMA athlete, we get 15 minutes, 25 minutes to show everything we can do, it's not long enough, so yeah there's a lot of stuff there that I've got to show him that he's never seen before, and I'm sure he's got a lot of stuff to show me that I've never seen before from him, so that's what makes this sport so exciting I guess.
13:01 Thank you.
13:04 So this is for the interim title, what do you think, should Jon Jones perhaps have vacated the title and this should be for the unified championship, or are you just fine with the interim?
13:19 I'm just fine with the interim, I'm not too bothered, it'll all work itself out I'm sure, Jon Jones is obviously one of the best to ever do it, I would love to share the opportunity with him one day, I've got a lot of respect for him, absolutely love his game, massive fan of his, but as far as if it's for the interim title or the vacant title, it doesn't really bother me too much.
13:41 So no care if he had vacated or not, and do you plan on calling him out should you win?
13:45 I'd love to fight Jon Jones, I've said that all along, there's no disrespect to Jon Jones, I couldn't respect him more, like what he's done in the sport and stuff, yeah I'd like to fight Jon Jones after this for sure.
13:59 Hey Tom back here in the back left, how do you feel physically and athletically, you've had a fight since the injury, and although not a full camp this time, but how much different are you mentally and with your physical skills since the injury?
14:12 Well me pre-injury would have never took a fight like this, absolutely never, so I think that just says where I'm at mentally, like I would have never ever done this before I injured my knee because I was struggling with a bad knee for a long time, my training now, I train with heavyweights like everyday, every single day for the last 18 months now, so I know exactly where my body's at.
14:33 Before I guess I was kind of guessing where my body's at a lot because I wasn't training with heavyweights regular, and now I train with heavyweights everyday so I know that I've got the size and the strength and all the rest of the stuff, the physical attributes to fight and I know when I'm ready to fight, and obviously I wouldn't have took this fight if I didn't think I was close to being ready, so I'm much more confident now moving forward.
14:56 And what's it like assessing an opponent like Sergey who has a lot of fights that are mostly quick knockouts, how difficult is it to look for a weakness from someone like that?
15:05 Well you basically can't find a weakness, I don't think anyone can look at his fights and be like "this is where he's good and this is where he's bad" because he's not really shown much bad at this point, so I just gotta do my thing.
15:19 The biggest advantage that I've got is he's fought no one who moves anything like me because there's not a guy in the heavyweight division who moves like me at all, so you can't prepare for me, it's really difficult for my training partners who train with me everyday to be able to figure out what I'm doing.
15:34 So guys who have never experienced anything like my movement, that's my biggest advantage that I've got. It's not his weaknesses because I can't look at his game and be like "right, he's weak there" because he's not shown any weaknesses, so I just gotta bring things that he's not.
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