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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Harry Davies

Tom Aspinall boasts he is one of the most "devastating punchers" in UFC history

Surging heavyweight Tom Aspinall has backed himself as one of the most "devastating punchers" the UFC has ever seen.

Aspinall faces a big step up in competition at UFC London on March 19 when he headlined the card against No.5 ranked Alexander Volkov.

The Brit was initially booked to face Shamil Abdurakhimov on the card, but the promotion pulled him from the fight to meet 'Drago' in the main event.

No.10 ranked Aspinall originally planned to take things slow and work his way up the division, but couldn't turn down a new contract offer and main event slot in his home country.

And the 28-year-old, who has never seen the third round in his career, isn't phased by his first UFC main event.

Tom Aspinall has never been the distance in his professional career (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

'I'm ok with it going five rounds, if they want it to go five rounds it can go five rounds," Aspinall said.

"I am one of the most devastating punchers the UFC heavyweight division has ever seen, just because I don't talk about it a lot and just because I don't big myself up.

"Watch my fights. I am one of the most devastating punchers the UFC has ever seen."

All of Aspinall's 11 professional wins have come by stoppage, with the heavyweight banking three performance bonuses in his four UFC fights.

Volkov has only been knocked out once in his 43 professional fights, but Aspinall is confident in his hopes of becoming the second man to finish him.

And Aspinall said there are no clear weaknesses in any part of the 6'7" Volkov's game.

"Well he's really tall ain't he. He's good at being tall and using his length, he's a good kicker, he's good everywhere. He's had [like] 50 fights," he continued.

Who wins at UFC London - Alexander Volkov or Tom Aspinall? Let us know your prediction in the comments section below

"You're not going to be s*** if you've had 50 pro fights, the guy's been fighting at the top level since before I was probably even fighting professionally.

"He's good everywhere, there's nowhere you can look at and say 'oh he's not good there'. He's a top five world in the world, but I just need to be better than him."

Aspinall admitted that as much as he wants to take his UFC career step-by-step, there is "no one" outside the top 10 who can pose a significant threat to him.

He expects to be a big underdog against Volkov and is not focusing on any title ambitions a win at UFC London could present to him.

"I'm not stupid, I've got a big task ahead of me. I'm going to be a massive underdog, so I'm just focused on that for now," he added.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: VOLKOV vs. ASPINALL tickets go on sale from 10 a.m. GMT on Friday, February 4, via AXS and Ticketmaster. To stay up to date with the latest ticketing information, register your interest via UFC.com/London.

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