UFC super prospect Tom Aspinall visualizes a route to the heavyweight championship

• UFC super prospect Tom Aspinall returns Saturday in the fight of his life.
• The heavy-handed Brit, who has trained alongside Tyson Fury, fights veteran Andrei Arlovski.
• Aspinall hopes to triumph as he continues to visualize a pathway to the heavyweight championship.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

UFC super prospect Tom Aspinall has been visualizing a pathway to the heavyweight championship before he even made his debut for the leading mixed martial arts firm last year.

Aspinall competes in his third UFC bout Saturday, his 12th in all MMA, at the behind-closed-doors UFC Fight Night 185 show at the Apex facility in Las Vegas.

Though he has competed in the UFC twice, both times on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, he has only tallied two minutes and 20 seconds of Octagon time bludgeoning both opponents in a quick-fire fashion.

The 6-foot-6 Brit, who has trained alongside the boxer Tyson Fury, made a statement in his UFC debut by bulldozing through Jake Collier with a 45-second knockout in July.

Three months later, he destroyed Alan Baudot in 95 seconds using a similar method – detonating high-powered strikes with his fists on his unfortunate opponent.

Insider spoke to Aspinall on Wednesday at his hotel room in Las Vegas, waiting to make his ring-walk as he opens the main card broadcast on ESPN this weekend.

He said he hopes to continue making UFC fights look easy. "I don't want to ruin this face because it's bad enough as it is," he smiled.

"Fight weeks are long weeks. You just wait, and wait, and wait. It's a 15-minute burst. Then, you go home."

Aspinall, 27, competes with the biggest name in his six-year career to date, fighting Andrei Arlovski - a 49-bout veteran who has shared the Octagon with Francis Ngannou, Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva, and Fedor Emilianenko.

"They put a prospect against a former champion or a good veteran," he said.

"I don't know if it's come too soon [for me]. I thought they were going to match me against other prospects. But, obviously not. I'll take it. That's why I'm in Vegas."

Keeping up with the Furys

Aspinall told Insider he remains connected with the Fury boxing dynasty.

The MMA fighter said he had sparred hundreds of rounds with Tyson Fury, the two-time heavyweight world boxing champion, and Fury's cousin Hughie, a one-time heavyweight title challenger.

Though it's been a couple of years since Aspinall last sparred Tyson, he told us he did speak to Fury's dad, the boxing trainer John Fury, earlier in this week. "He said, 'Good luck, do your thing,' and that's it," Aspinall said.

Tyson has had two all-time great performances that are already defining his legacy, as he bamboozled the long-reigning heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko in Germany in 2015 and knocked out feared American knockout puncher Deontay Wilder in 2020 - a performance Aspinall described as "awesome."

He said: "The main thing I took from him was just don't take [the fight game] too seriously, and just go out there and enjoy it. You can only do what you do.

"I did my best in training camp. I'm eating right, living right. Got the right rest. I'll give it 100% on Saturday, and that's all I can do."

Though Aspinall's training sessions with Fury focused on boxing, he told us he did show the boxer a few moves in MMA.

"We had a couple of grapples, actually," he said. "[Tyson] was alright. At first, we were just messing around. And then he wanted to do it as a fitness thing.

"I'm sure he could learn it if he put his mind to it."

It begs the question as to whether Aspinall thinks Fury is for real when he has said before that he would happily compete in the UFC. "I think he's just trolling."

Aspinall wants to keep his abilities on the ground a secret … for now

Aspinall is renowned for one thing - his ability to finish a fight.

Not one of his nine wins to date have come via decision, as he's knocked out eight opponents and submitted one via heel hook.

Should a match ever go to the ground, as a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Aspinall can defend himself and transition to attack on the mat.

 "It's top-secret the ground game, so I'll leave it under wraps so we can shock some people, hopefully, when we really need it," he said.

"To be honest, I'm not that interested in pure jiu-jitsu as I just think it's awful to watch as a spectator sport," Aspinall said.

He listed Demian Maia - regarded as one of the greatest grapplers in MMA history - and Prince Naseem Hamed - one of boxing's most thunderous punchers ever - as his influences in fighting.

"Prince Naseem Hamed. He was the man. I've watched all the old stuff as he was fighting when I was really young. I've been reading his book on the flight over and he's just awesome. I love that guy," he said.

"I think a lot of people don't get it. He was having fun, not just being flashy, but he was just brilliant, and I loved everything about him."

Aspinall plans on enjoying himself vs. Arlovski on Saturday

The fighter's most immediate task is the biggest fight of his life against Arlovski. Aspinall is respectful of his opponent, but he hints that the timing might be on his side to put the veteran down.

"His main strength is his experience and he knows how to win a fight even though he's like, I wouldn't say he's slowing down but he's not the same athleticism as he used to because of his age," Aspinall said.

"He knows when to attack and when not to attack, when to save his energy, and all the stuff that goes with having 49 fights.

"I'm just going to go in there and enjoy myself. If it detonates, I'll take that. But if not, it'll explode another time [and I'll get a decision]."

Aspinall wants to fight two more times this year, beginning with a summer bout - one that could even land back on Fight Island.

As he builds an even bigger name for himself, he'll continue to visualize that run to the UFC heavyweight championship.

"I don't think who I'm fighting or where. It's just me going out that and doing what I do. Enjoying it and showing my skills."

You can see Aspinall's skills Saturday on ESPN in the US and BT Sport in the UK.