Exclusive: Tom Aspinall says he is ‘ready to go’ after late call for UFC 295 title shot against Sergei Pavlovich

Tom Aspinall says a lack of preparation time is no problem to him after his late call-up for a title shot against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295.

The pair will fight for the interim heavyweight title in New York on Saturday, November 11 live on TNT Sports.

As he gets ready to become the first Englishman to fight for the belt, Aspinall is calm about the challenge ahead.

“I feel good about it all”, he told TNT Sports.

“I feel like everything’s happened at the right time and yeah, [I’m] ready to go.

“I feel like me as a person, I’m ready to fight anyone at any time and I’ve proved that, like, the UFC know that I’ve never said no to a fight.

“Two weeks notice, scariest guy in the UFC and I’m ready to chance it all and go and win my belt,” he said.

Aspinall admits he knew his chance would not be far away, with even UFC president Dana White telling him to keep himself fresh.

“They told me to kind of stay ready because they wanted me, like, in title contention sometime early next year.

“So, they just told me, listen, be ready because you might have to fight for a vacant or maybe a or maybe an interim title next year against Pavlovich.

“I was expecting the fight, but I weren’t expecting it in like two weeks, but I’m always in the gym anyway, so I’m happy with it,” he said.

A topic of conversation over the last year has been how Ciryl Gane – who recently returned to the top of the UFC heavyweight rankings – turned down a clash with Aspinall because he wanted a title fight.

Aspinall – who is fourth in the standings – has now been granted that fight instead, against second-placed Pavlovich.

Speaking about which opponent he would rather be entering The Octagon with, the Brit said: “I think in the top five you’re looking at the top five, like, hardest guys in the world and I think you can’t really prefer one over the other.

“I think all of them bring their own strengths and weaknesses like any opponent really.

“But, I think Ciryl Gane’s a tough fight to be honest, but that’s what I was looking for. I wasn’t calling out Ciryl Gane because I think it’s an easy, he’s an easy fight. I was calling him out because I wanted his ranking and I want to be put in title contention.”

However, it will be the Russian Pavlovich standing in Aspinall’s way and, assessing his opponent’s threats, he said: “He definitely brings a lot of power, he is definitely dangerous. He’s fast, he picks his shots.

“You can’t really watch Sergei Pavlovich and go ‘this is where his weakness is’, because there’s not enough footage of him.

“He’s similar to me in that regard. He’s had quite a lot of fights now, but the fights have been really short, same as mine.

“Like up until this point, he’s looked pretty good everywhere.”

Despite knowing a tough battle is in store, Aspinall said: “I think I’m better and I want to show that”

If Aspinall’s prediction turns out to be correct and he gets the win against Pavlovich, he is likely to face Jones on his return from injury.

The Salford-born fighter cannot help but look forward to that prospect.

“Oh, my ideal 2024 would be fight Jon Jones in the UK,” he said.

“That would be in Manchester, preferably like that. That’s an absolute dream. If I could do that, that’s my dream fight right there.”

Regardless of who fights who and when they face off, Aspinall is excited about the future of the sport.

“I think that the next 5/6 years within the heavyweight division is probably the most interesting it’s ever been,” he said.

“In my opinion, we’ve got plenty of guys like me who are early thirties, not even prime yet.

“And, you know, we’ve got guys like Pavlovich, obviously, Gane, [Jailton] Almeida, [Curtis] Blaydes.

“We’re all gonna fight each other like a few times in the next five or six years.

“It’s gonna be the best heavyweight division that we’ve ever seen,” he said.