A heavyweight collision between Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall will cap off the UFC’s return to London.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto is reporting that Volkov and Aspinall will share the Octagon on March 19. This will be for a UFC Fight Night event. Okamoto’s source is UFC President Dana White.
The action will take place inside The O2 Arena.
Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall: How Did We Get Here?
Volkov is the number five-ranked UFC heavyweight. Losses to Derrick Lewis, Curtis Blaydes, and Ciryl Gane have prevented Volkov from getting that elusive title opportunity in the UFC but he always hangs in tough. He rebounded from the defeat to Gane with a unanimous decision victory over Marcin Tybura.
Aspinall has been surging up the heavyweight rankings. He currently holds the number 10 position and a win over Volkov would be the biggest of his career. Aspinall is a perfect 4-0 under the UFC banner with finishes over Jake Collier, Alan Boudot, Andre Arlovski, and Sergey Spivak.
His last pro MMA loss was back in May 2016 and that was a disqualification due to an illegal elbow. Despite having just four fights in the UFC, Aspinall has earned three “Performance of the Night” bonuses.
The UFC hasn’t been to London since March 2019. The promotion had plans to make the annual trip to London in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to that plan.
