The interim heavyweight title is on line for the first time since 2005.
England’s Tom Aspinall is back where he belongs in Manchester, defending the strap against perennial contender Curtis Blaydes in the main event of UFC 304. The interim title fight has massive implications with UFC CEO Dana White confirming that the the winner will go on to unify the title against winner of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, which is rumored to be later this year.
Aspinall is coming off his most impressive performance to date – a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 last November, all while coming in on short notice and injured. Aspinall’s only loss of his UFC career comes to Blaydes, who scored a TKO win after Aspinall suffered a knee injury in the first 15 seconds.
Blaydes bounced back his last time out, defeating Jailton Almeida to earn his shot at gold after Ciryl Gane turned down a title fight with Aspinall to do a movie deal.
Round 1:
Blaydes gauges the distance well and lands a right hand. Blaydes and Aspinall trade shots up close in an exchange with Aspinall clinching Blaydes against the cage before letting him go. Blaydes lands a few shots over the top and Aspinall returns fire, lighting up Blaydes with a left hand and barely missing with a right. Blaydes loses his balance and goes down with Aspinall blitzing him with punches. The ground and pound adds up for Aspinall and the referee has seen enough, ruling it a TKO win for Aspinall.
Official result: Tom Aspinall defeats Curtis Blaydes via TKO (punches) in round 1 (1:00) – defends UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship
Check out the highlights below:
https://x.com/HappyPunch/status/1817413356560462096
https://x.com/ufc/status/1817413055581446180
https://x.com/ufc/status/1817413798732472768
https://x.com/ufc/status/1817414101770846511
