Tom Aspinall says Curtis Blaydes rematch a ‘lose-lose’ battle

Tom Aspinall admits he’s risking an entire lot by rematching Curtis Blaydes within the UFC 304 co-main occasion.

Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will try and defend his interim heavyweight title when he runs it again with Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) on July 27 at Co-op Reside in Manchester, England (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). His dream situation was a unification bout with Jon Jones, however after acknowledging that’s possible not going to materialize with “Bones” decided to face Stipe Miocic subsequent, he agreed to maneuver on.

The provide that got here by way of was a rematch with Blaydes, who Aspinall suffered his lone UFC loss towards when he suffered a knee damage simply 15 seconds into their UFC Struggle Evening 208 headliner in July 2022. Aspinall likes the thought of getting again the end result on his document towards Blaydes, however outdoors of that, he mentioned the upside is minimal.

“There’s unfinished enterprise there, evidently,” Aspinall instructed The Mac Life. “I’ve mentioned this all alongside. I’ve mentioned this earlier than we final fought, which is over two years in the past now: I imagine that Curtis is the hardest matchup within the division for me stylistically. That is no disrespect to Curtis – it’s a little bit of a lose-lose battle in the truth that he’s not that standard, is what I’m saying. He’s not that standard.

“The fellows that you simply wish to battle are the fellows who stylistically you match up effectively with, they usually’re actually standard. They’re the fellows you wish to battle, and Curtis is form of the alternative of that. I’m not saying something unhealthy about Curtis or something, however he’s not the most well-liked man ever, and he’s actually good. I’m wanting ahead to it, although. None of that basically makes a distinction to me. I’m making ready now one hundred pc for Curtis.”

After the interim title contest was booked for UFC 304, Jones chimed in on the “No. 1 contender bout” and mentioned he thinks Blaydes may pull off a respectable victory this time round.

Aspinall doesn’t begrudge Jones for that evaluation, however just isn’t bothered by it, as a result of he’s the one combating in simply over two months time, whereas Jones stays on the sidelines.

“He would possibly (beat me) – it’s heavyweight MMA on the prime degree,” Aspinall mentioned. “Somebody at all times would possibly win. And I imagine in myself. Yeah, I believe I’m good. I believe I’m one of the best on the planet. However does that make me invincible? No. Completely not. It’s heavyweight MMA. One shot off Curtis and the ref may be waking me up. That’s the way it works. That is heavyweight MMA on the peak of the mountain. After all there’s an opportunity I can get knocked out. I’m absolutely conscious of that. However I’m placing all of it on the road, and fairly frankly, (Jones) isn’t.”

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