UFC London: Blaydes vs Aspinall – Take a look at the results and also the ones who received the bonus
The UFC returned to action for the second time this year in the UK, after a massive blockbuster event earlier this year. The O2 Arena was electrifying and buzzing back in March, with UFC London 2022 arguably being the biggest night in UFC history. A total of 12 bouts took place in the English capital and every fight had the British crowds roaring with approval. With 17,081 fans in attendance, UFC London made history by becoming the highest-grossing single sporting event at the O2 Arena. UFC President Dana White had promised that they’d return before the end of this year owing to this grand success, and the UFC head honcho stayed true to his words.
The event lacked the in terms of ‘knock your socks’ moments, like the last time around, where it was highlight reel after highlight reel. Still the card delivered with local stars putting on a spectacle, capped off by an anti climatic end to the main event.
Curtis Blaydes beats Tom Aspinall via TKO
In the main event, Tom Aspinall had promised to push to the pace from the beginning, and so he did. Truthful to his words, Aspinall was the early aggressor, trying to catch his American opponent with some wild shot, right off the back. However Curtis stood his ground, and waited for the opportune moment to capitalize. He managed to land some really good shots when Aspinall over-committed to his striking.
During one of these exchanges, Aspinall landed a strong leg kick to Curtis, who barely checked it. A left hand follow up gazed past the chin of Aspinall, but the English man was down before anything more could happen. Looked like he blew his knee out. An anti-climatic end to what was an anticipated clash.
For the first time the entire night, the crowd cheered for a visibly distressed Blaydes, who didn’t the fight to end in that manner. He stated that he had travelled to the other side of the world to test his skills against another skilled opponent, but the fight had an unfortunate ending.
However, he shut down the idea of a rematch in the post fight interview in which he said,
“I have no idea what happened. He landed the kick, I went to counter, he dropped. That’s all I know. I’m frustrated. No one wants to win like that. I get the win, I hold my ranking. I get the money, but without a highlight, did it even happen? Did the fight even happen?”
“I’m not risking my ranking (with a rematch),” Blaydes said. “I won the fight. Heading into this fight I envisioned the winner, which is me, would be fighting the winner of Tuivasa and Gane. So I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to fight those guys when it’s right there to wait for Tom Aspinall to heal and run it back.”
UFC Main Card Results
Main Event: Curtis Blaydes defeats Tom Aspinall via TKO (injury) at :15 of the first round
Co-Main Event: Jack Hermansson defeats Chris Curtis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Paddy Pimblett defeats Jordan Leavitt via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:46 of round two
Nikita Krylov defeats Alexander Gustafsson via KO at 1:07 of the first round
Molly McCann defeats Hannah Goldy via TKO (strikes) at 3:53 of the first round
Volkan Oezdemir defeats Paul Craig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
UFC Preliminary Card Results
Ludovit Klein defeats Mason Jones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Marc Diakiese defeats Damir Hadzovic via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Nathaniel Wood defeats Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Jonathan Pearce defeats Makwan Amirkhani via TKO (strikes) at 4:10 of the second round
Muhammad Mokaev defeats Charles Johnson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jai Herbert defeats Kyle Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Victoria Leonardo defeats Mandy Bohm via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Nicolas Dalby defeats Claudio Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
UFC London Bonus Winners
These are the fighters who cashed in the extra $50,000 bonus for their brilliant performances at UFC London.
Performance of the Night: Jonathan Pearce
Performance of the Night: Nikita Krylov
Performance of the Night: Molly McCann
Performance of the Night: Paddy Pimblett
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