May 04, (THEWILL) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has announced that on July 23, Tom Aspinall will face Curtis Blaydes in the main event of a UFC London event for the second time this year.
When the UFC returned to London after a three-year hiatus in March, Aspinall competed in his first main event for the organisation, submitting veteran, Alexander Volkov, in the first round.
Aspinall’s win streak now stands at eight, with eight of those victories coming via stoppage — seven in Round 1 and the other in Round 2.
With a fight record of 12 wins, Aspinall moved up to number six in the heavyweight rankings as an outcome of the win, and the 29-year-old will now face fourth-ranked Blaydes in his next London fight.
Blaydes will enter the O2 Arena on the heels of two straight victories, with his most recent defeat, against Derrick Lewis in February 2021, ending a four-fight win streak.
The only other time the American lost was to Francis Ngannou, the current UFC heavyweight champion.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted the UFC to take a three-year hiatus from holding events in the UK, the country would usually host one UFC event per year, usually in London.
The UFC’s quick return to the O2 Arena, just four months after its last appearance, is a result of the March event’s enormous success. That event was the highest-grossing UFC Fight Night and the highest-grossing sporting event in the O2 Arena’s history.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
