Wow! The clash of heavyweights ended in a hard knockout after one minute, the UFC has a new interim king. This is how Aspinall won the title

UFC 295 was supposed to feature a Jones vs. Miocic main event, but due to an injury to the former, it didn’t happen. Instead, the Prochazka vs. Pereira duel moved to the forefront and Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall clashed for the interim heavyweight title. How did the duel turn out?

Madison Square Garden is a sacred place for the sport as a whole. It is no different for MMA and combat sports as a whole. It was to the famous New York City venue that the UFC returned on Saturday night.

The main event was to feature Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, two legends. Arguably the best fighter in MMA history and one of the best heavyweights in the history of not just the UFC.

But Jones got injured and Sergei Pavlovich came in. He was originally the official replacement for the heavyweight title fight. However, boss Dana White has such respect for Miocic that he wants to give him a fight with Jones and found another solution.

Miocic did not participate in the tournament at all. Just a spectator. But two weeks before the event, English fighter Tom Aspinall accepted the offer to fight for the interim title.

Pavlovich went into the fight with an 18-1 record, scoring 15 first-round knockdowns. Aspinall was 13-3, delivering 9 knockdowns in the first round, as well as 3 first round submissions.

The Pavlovich vs Aspinall fight was supposed to be a battle of power and speed. The English fighter has great movement, is harder to read, great footwork. It’s the Russian who has the killer punches.

Aspinall is the new king of the UFC

Both fighters had a lot of respect for each other before the fight. Rightfully so. Both are scary, both are huge. Any punch could have made the difference in the fight. And in fact, it did.

The fight lasted only one minute and nine seconds. Pavlovich landed the first punching combinations and you could tell Aspinall had respect for him. Gradually, though, the Englishman found the right distance and, once he got it right, he attacked so that he wouldn’t have to again.

Pavlovich went down and lost for only the second time in his career. Aspinall is the interim UFC champion and will likely challenge the winner of Jones vs Miocic in his next fight.

Source: UFC, Twitter, Tapology