Tom Aspinall is taking things slowly in his UFC career.
Aspinall continued his unbeaten streak in the promotion with an impressive first-round TKO win over Sergey Spivak on the UFC Vegas 36 main card last night.
It was not only a win against a fellow contender in the heavyweight division, but also meant Aspinall maintained his 100% finishing record as he is yet to truly compete in the second round, let alone make the third round in his career.
Given his momentum, he could have easily shot his shot and called for a higher-ranked opponent next. Aspinall is different, however.
Instead, he wants to slowly take out anyone ranked above him in his path one at a time and grow as a fighter rather than leapfrog a contender thanks to a hype machine.
That means a potential meeting with Blagoy Ivanov could be on the cards — something Aspinall is all for especially as Ivanov is the kind of fighter who will push him to his limits.
“Do you know what? I would love to fight Blagoy Ivanov,” Aspinall told BT Sport (via Middle Easy). “He does test you. He’s really durable, he’s really, really experienced and that’s what I need.
“I need someone who can push me a little bit and take me to three rounds, I wanna do three rounds.”
Although Ivanov is on a two-fight losing streak, they were split decision defeats to Derrick Lewis and Augusto Sakai. Having never been finished by knockout in his career, Ivanov is certainly one of the most durable fighters in the division.
Being the first to finish Ivanov in the UFC would certainly be a feather in Aspinall’s cap.