Facing the biggest challenge of his young career in the headline fight of UFC Fight Night 204 at London’s O2 Arena, Aspinall made it look shockingly easy, running right through Alexander Volkov in just 3 minutes and 45 seconds. The Russian giant only landed one strike of any real consequence; the rest was all one-way traffic, as Aspinall beat Volkov to the punch, took him down with ease and used a nifty kimura transition to lock on a straight armbar for the finish. It is the worst defeat anyone has handed Volkov since Vitaly Minakov nearly a decade ago — or perhaps ever.
With the dominant performance, the 28-year-old Mancunian moves to the forefront of the youth movement that has taken the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division by storm over the last few years. By the eyeball test, Aspinall appears to be one of the most well-rounded fighters in the division, with a blend of size and athleticism that is truly rare. His streak of five finishes in as many Octagon appearances — four within the first round — has followed a natural, logical progression, culminating with borderline contender Sergey Spivak in his previous fight and now a legitimate Top 10 fighter in Volkov. There’s nowhere to go from here but up, and more significantly, there isn’t much further to go.
In the wake of UFC Fight Night 204, here are matchups that ought to be made for Aspinall and some other prominent winners.
Tom Aspinall vs. Tai Tuivasa
Aspinall’s callout of “Bam Bam” after styling on Volkov probably raised some eyebrows, especially considering that former interim champ Ciryl Gane was sitting right there. However, there are some compelling reasons to give Aspinall what he asks for. First, Gane is coming off of a loss, while Tuivasa, like Aspinall himself, is riding high on the momentum of a career-defining win, in his case a second-round knockout of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 last month. Like Aspinall, Tuivasa is on a streak of five straight wins by stoppage. They are easily the two men with the greatest positive momentum in the division, Tuivasa is actually the higher ranked fighter at the moment, and he probably will still be when the new rankings come out next week. On paper, it’s the best matchup available for both men.
The second, trickier reason is this: Despite Tuivasa’s win streak, the burly Aussie has his share of doubters, who have difficulty separating him from the fun but limited slugger who was in real danger of washing out of the UFC in 2019 on a three-fight skid. If Tuivasa is still that same fighter, just on a lucky streak — for the record, I don’t think that is the case — then this might be the only time he will be ranked highly enough for this matchup to make sense. Either way, book it.
Arnold Allen vs. Calvin Kattar
“Almighty” did his stock a world of good in Saturday’s co-main event, spoiling Dan Hooker’s return to featherweight with a first-round thrashing. Allen came out aggressive, hurt Hooker quickly and never let up; the fight could arguably have been stopped several times before referee Daniel Movahedi intervened at 2:33. The emphatic win did two important things: extend Allen’s Octagon win streak to nine in a row, best in the division; and silence the detractors who questioned his finishing ability. Allen requested a date with Kattar in his postfight interview, and on a night full of shockingly sensible callouts, it was one of the best. “The Boston Finisher” didn’t manage to finish Giga Chikadze in his last appearance in January, but he did put a serious beating on a man who might have been the most feared striker in the division coming into their bout. Kattar proved he is far from done as a top contender, while Allen is proving he deserves to be one. Make the fight, and consider the winner within shouting distance of a title shot.
Paddy Pimblett vs. Jim Miller
It’s been a fun ride so far, hasn’t it? Through two bouts in the UFC, “Paddy the Baddy” has managed to grab headlines, start fires on social media, enrage a bunch of his co-workers, and deliver two first-round finishes in wild, entertaining scraps. That last bit is the problem, though: Pimblett has now gotten clocked badly in consecutive bouts by marginal UFC talents who were frankly handpicked for him. It’s made his fights enjoyable, but it doesn’t look like a recipe for sustained success in the brutal UFC lightweight division, much less a run at the Top 10.
In Pimblett, the UFC has an obvious potential star in the making, right at a time that it desperately needs them. While his many detractors will chuckle at the mop-topped Liverpudlian getting knocked down by sub-UFC-level opponents, it doesn’t necessarily make him a fraud or a bust. Underneath the bluster, he’s a gifted 27-year-old grappler with some fixable holes in his game. The trick is to give him the chance to keep developing without resorting to obvious squash matches. Ilia Topuria, who gave an impassioned and profane callout of Pimblett after his win on Saturday’s undercard, would be a very bad idea. Miller, who walloped Nikolas Motta on Feb. 19 to claim the first back-to-back knockouts of his historic career, is a better call. He has the (new-found) power to make Pimblett pay for sloppiness on the feet, he is eminently capable of taking care of himself on the ground, and his waning gas tank leaves the prospect a safety valve — if Pimblett is smart and disciplined enough to take advantage.
Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexey Oleynik-Ilir Latifi winner
In the above-mentioned heavyweight youth movement, Pavlovich has been something of a forgotten man. His devastating loss to Alistair Overeem in his UFC debut in November 2018 — never mind that Overeem was still a contender at the time and one hell of a tall order for a 26-year-old prospect — led some to dismiss him as hype. Worse yet, after bouncing back with a pair of first-round knockouts in 2019, he disappeared for two and a half years, long enough to vanish from our collective consciousness.
On Saturday, he returned, and reaffirmed his relevance, with a first-round smashing of Shamil Abdurakhimov. While “Abrek” is now 40 and has suffered from lengthy recent absences of his own, he was a Top 10 fighter just a couple of years ago and Pavlovich absolutely steamrolled him. If Pavlovich is healthy and ready to rock, he is a scary new presence in the division, a 29-year-old with physical gifts somewhat reminiscent of Aspinall, even if he is far less proven in the cage. At heavyweight, where 29 might as well be 19, there is no reason to rush a relative spring chicken like Pavlovich. Oleynik and Latifi, a pair of solid veterans, will square off next weekend in Columbus, Ohio for UFC on ESPN 33. The winner would be a reasonable next test for Pavlovich.
Paul Craig vs. Anthony Smith
Craig is, to put it bluntly, f***ing ridiculous. Thirteen fights into his UFC tenure, he still manages to lull foes into his guard — and a false sense of security — before ensnaring them in his patented triangle choke. The latest victim, Nikita Krylov, landed so many clean, unblocked ground shots to Craig’s face that he surely must have thought he was about to win the fight…right up until the last five seconds before he tapped. Despite a lack of conventional fast-twitch athleticism, despite his improving but still rudimentary striking and despite one of the worst nicknames in the sport, the “Bearjew” is not only surviving, but thriving as perhaps the top submission specialist in the light heavyweight division. Once he was a curiosity and his buzzer-beater submission of Magomed Ankalaev four years ago a memorable fluke; now he is on a six-fight unbeaten streak and a Top 10 fighter himself, right alongside Ankalaev. Craig’s postfight callout of Smith was competitively appropriate and a tantalizing style matchup. It’s the kind of name that could vault the Scot into the title picture, and if Smith can stop the Craig train, it would go a long way toward getting him back to a title shot himself.