MMA
UFC 304: Curtis Blaydes' team sees this strategy as a path to victory over Tom Aspinall
Watch UFC 304 live on ESPN+ PPV (US Only)
The first clash between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes ended in 15 seconds when Aspinall suffered a knee injury in July 2022.
Since then, Blaydes has gone 1-1, producing a second-round knockout of Jailton Almeida in March to bounce back from a first-round TKO loss to Sergei Pavlovich in April 2023.
Aspinall returned to the Octagon to deliver back-to-back stoppage wins over Marcin Tybura and Pavlovich in July and November of last year, respectively.
Heading into their rematch at UFC 304 on Saturday night, Blaydes and his team see a clear path to victory over Aspinall and they believe it will happen through Blaydes' wrestling.
"Tom Aspinall is an extremely athletic heavyweight, he's explosive, he believes in his hands and wrestling will be a huge factor in this fight," Blaydes says in the latest episode of UFC 304 Countdown.
Added Blaydes' grappling coach Cody Donovan: "We've really been dialing in on him to get busy on the floor and play this game that we've been developing and it is extremely violent."
That being said, Blaydes' team is betting on their charge to take the English fighter to depths he hasn't experienced.
"We're going to take Tom to places he's not been yet," said Blaydes' head coach Vinnie Lopez, noting only one of Aspinall's eight UFC fights have made it past the second round.
"We want to drag him deep," Lopez continued. "Once we start hitting rounds two, rounds three, that's when things are going to descend. I want to see who Tom is when it starts to get ugly and scary. I want to see that version of Tom and nobody's seen it yet and that's what we're counting on."
Through that, Blaydes' squad can envision how their man defeats Aspinall.
"I see Tom getting beat on bottom," Lopez added, "with Curtis putting elbows through his face."
Live on DAZN: Claressa Shields vs. Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse. Click here for details.
