Tom Aspinall hasn’t fought since last July, when he suffered a devastating knee injury in the opening seconds of his fight against Curtis Blaydes.
Having since fully recovered from those MCL and meniscus tears and ACL damage, Aspinall is feeling rejuvenated physically ahead of his UFC Fight Night clash against Marcin Tybura on July 22. But it’s his cerebral approach that the heavyweight believes separates him from the rest of the division — to the point where he’s comfortable comparing himself to an all-time sports legend, Lionel Messi.
“I think that my fight IQ and my decision making is better than anybody else,” Aspinall said while speaking with OLBG.com. “I'm really, really smart and it’s not something that a lot of heavyweights have. They have a lot of knockouts and if they get on top of you it's going be hard to get them off. I'm not that I'm not saying that can’t happen. But what I'm saying is that my fight IQ is extremely high in comparison to a lot of the other guys in my division.”
Delving into that fight IQ a bit further, Aspinall says his ability to react on the fly at his weight makes him dangerous for this bout against Tybura next weekend at the O2 Arena in London — and beyond.
“I feel like I'm one of the best decision makers in MMA,” he continued. “I see openings and capitalize in a split second.”
Aspinall may need to put that fight IQ to the test against Tybura, who is riding a two-fight winning streak, having last defeated Blagoy Ivanov by unanimous decision in February.
“I think that people look past him and that's completely the wrong thing to do because he's been in the Top 10 for years, he's won seven of his last eight at heavyweight. That's an unbelievable record,” Aspinall conceded.
“But on the other hand you're talking about me being healthy now, and you're talking about me in a very good mental space, the best that I've ever been in my career,” he added. “He's got a lot of fights, he's got a lot of experience, but as a reference to football, there's loads of footballers that can tackle, but when Messi runs at them full blast, they can’t get near him, and that's how it is with me. I'm very intelligent as a fighter, a lot of people look past my decision making.”