Tom Aspinall shared his game-plans for dealing with Francis Ngannou inside the Octagon
Tom Aspinall had the perfect UFC debut one could hope for. The 27-year-old knocked out his rival in 45 seconds, didn’t receive any damage and won a $50,000 bonus.
Aspinall claims another fight is ready but didn’t divulge any details as he spoke on WERMMA. The 27-year-old also took part in a fun Q+A session via some of his Instagram fans but he was also asked some tough questions during the interview.
One was regarding Francis Ngannou and the Cameroon-French star’s power. Ngannou is regarded as one of the biggest hitters in the UFC and should face Stipe Miocic for the title.
Aspinall was asked about Ngannou as he highlighted what tactics one should use against the contender:
“I think he is dangerous. Very dangerous. In my opinion, people trying to trade with him from the beginning for some reason, I don’t know what that is.
“If you try to trade with him, especially early on, you are going to get knocked out. There’s no two ways about it.”
Aspinall spoke about the Miocic and Ngannou fight and claimed that the champion moved about in the first round and that was the way to go against Ngannou.
He was also surprised at the game plan used by Jairzinho Rozenstruik against Ngannou. Rozenstruik went swinging for the fences and was caught out by his rival.
“I would move my feet and my head and get away a little bit and hopefully, he would gas out a little bit.
“But it is easy from the outside looking in, very easy.”
While Aspinall isn’t in a hurry to reach the top now, he was planning to battle for the title in six or seven years.
The British star wants to enjoy his time in MMA and claimed he was extremely happy in his life. Aspinall has also trained with one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport, Tyson Fury.
The 27-year-old spoke about what all he learned from Fury and that could have played a part in his mentality now:
“I learned a lot of technical stuff. For me, training with Tyson was a lot of mental. I was doing MMA and then I switched to boxing for a couple of years.
“Then I came back to MMA and in that year or so I was boxing, I felt like my mental life had completely changed being around someone like Tyson Fury.
“His outlook on fighting and on life is just taught me something. I think I was like 23 or 24, just a young guy, think I just had my first kid and stuff like that.
“It completely changed the outlook of what fighting is for me.”
Aspinall highlighted that Fury does travel a lot but he is in contact with the family. The 27-year-old certainly made a mark on his debut and it will be interesting to see what is next.
The British star seems to have picked up a lot from his sessions with Fury, and that will help him immensely in his MMA journey.
This is an exclusive interview from WERMMA. For more exclusive interviews and content please follow the link.
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