“Yes, of course – I envisioned my fight with Aspinall,” the Russian said in an interview “Match TV”. “As soon as Tom showed up, I said this is a high-level fighter. He’s a very smart fighter who knows how to fight. He has virtually no weaknesses. This is a worthy champion.”
“How would I fight him? Everybody asks me what my plan is for the fight, but I don’t have a plan! I have never gone into a fight with a plan. Everything is according to the situation. If I’d gone with Aspinall, I’d have gone at him like a hungry dog in the yard, like I usually do. We would have had a good and entertaining fight that would have sold a lot of broadcasts”
This past weekend, Anatoly Malykhin became the first triple champion in mixed martial arts history when he defeated Rainier de Ridder early at ONE 166 in Qatar to take the middleweight title from the Dutchman.
Tom Aspinall last stepped into the octagon last November, knocking out Sergey Pavlovic in 69 seconds to win the interim UFC heavyweight championship belt.