Tom Aspinal Admits Not Being In His ‘Fittest’ Shape Prior To UFC 295 Clash Against Sergei Pavlovich- ‘Not Had a Fight’

Short-notice fights are always tricky. They have an equal chance of going wrong for either party. Alexander Volkanovski took a short-notice fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC 294, which went about as bad as it could have been for the Aussie. On the other hand, some, such as Nate Diaz and Michael Bisping, shocked the UFC world when they beat Conor McGregor (his first UFC loss) and Luke Rockhold (for the middleweight title), respectively, on short notice.

And UFC heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall is determined to pull a Bisping as he gears up to fight boogeyman Sergei Pavlovich for the interim title at UFC 295 on two weeks’ notice. And ahead of the most important fight of his career so far, the Englishman made surprising revelations about the state of his fitness in an interview.

Tom Aspinall is not fully fit ahead of the interim title bout

Aspinall joined TMZ Sports to talk about his co-main title bout against Pavlovich. The Manchester native revealed he was not fully fit but felt he was ready as he had been training and sparring every day. Pavlovich was the backup fighter for the Jones–Miocic fight before its scrapping, and thus, he was in a proper training camp. The Englishman, however, took the replacement fight just over two weeks ahead of the November 11 fixture.

“I can’t lie and say like I’m my fittest ever because I’m not. Yeah, but also there’s been times that I’ve not had a fight when I’ve been way further away than what I am now. I’ve still been training, I was training every day, I was looking after my body. I’ve got training partners who are fighting soon so I was helping them out with the training and the sparring,” Aspinall told the interviewer.

The BJJ black belt was confident that two and a half weeks would give him enough time to mentally prepare for the Russian. Pavlovich has won the last seven of his fights via a first-round knockout, which undoubtedly would be a psychological challenge for Pavlovich even before they meet in the Octagon. However, the Englishman said he felt good and was very close to being fully ready.

“So, yeah, relatively, I’m happy like two and a half weeks is enough time to switch on your mind to get in the mode of fighting, to mentally prepare yourself. Yeah I’d say I was around 80-90%. Like I’m not too far away, man, I feel good,” he added. And even as the Jones-Miocic bout is pushed back until at least mid-2024, many fans are considering Aspinall-Pavlovich as the ‘real’ heavyweight title.

Aspinall-Pavlovich replaces Jones-Miocic at UFC 295

Jon Jones was supposed to face Stipe Miocic in a legacy-defining fight at UFC 295. However, ‘Bones’ injury has forced the UFC to cancel the bout and replace it with Aspinall-Pavlovich. The latter is being seen as the official passing of the baton to the next generation of heavyweights.

Also Read: Jon Jones Finally Gets Toppled Off Top Spot by Islam Makhachev on UFC’s Latest P4P Rankings

Jones has indicated he would be retiring from fighting after his bout against the heavyweight GOAT, which means the interim title will be promoted to undisputed status. Miocic is way past his prime at 41. Even if he wins against Jones and goes on to fight the interim title winner, he is not expected to win the unification bout. But, on the off-chance that he does defeat Jones and then the winner of Aspinall-Pavlovich, there would be no debate that he is the GOAT at heavyweight and one of the greatest ever.

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