Tom Aspinall swiftly knocks out Sergei Pavlovich in UFC 295

On Saturday night, the UFC made its annual return to Madison Square Garden for UFC 295, and fans got to witness to one of the most thrilling main events imaginable. Each of the five final fights ended in a knockout, and each appeared to be more brutal than the previous.

After Jon Jones had to withdraw from his heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic due to a pectoral injury, the UFC scheduled a battle between Aspinall and Pavlovich for the interim title. Pavlovich had been training as Jones-Miocic’s backup, while Aspinall had not been in camp.

But Aspinall delivered a straight right hand on Pavlovich’s temple, sending him reeling back and down on the floor.

Pavlovic entered the octagon as the world’s number two heavyweight, while Aspinall will be rated fourth. Furthermore, both heavyweights have a reputation for being knockout artists. Pavlovich has won all of his UFC fights in the first round, whilst Aspinall has only gone to the second round once.
When their stats are compared, Pavlovich lands a crazy 8.7 major strikes per minute at 50% accuracy. He does not, however, receive any takedowns. Aspinall, on the other side, averages 7.6 meaningful strikes per minute at 67%. Furthermore, he averages over 3.7 takedowns with 100% accuracy each fifteen minutes. As a result of his victory, Aspinall becomes only the third British UFC champion in history, following Michael Bisping (middleweight) and Leon Edwards (welterweight).

The victory also concludes a spectacular comeback for Aspinall, who returned to action in July after missing a year due to a catastrophic knee injury. In the main event, Alex Pereira of Brazil defeated Jiri Prochazka of the Czech Republic in the second round to claim the vacant light-heavyweight championship.

Former middleweight champion Pereira, 36, becomes a two-division champion in his seventh UFC bout, breaking the record for the quickest time to accomplish the accomplishment.

Both men came in as big punchers with swift finishes, and the bout lived up to the hype for the 69 seconds it lasted. Pavlovich hit an early combination that appeared to hurt Aspinall, and they were both shooting strong shots.

Aspinall had one distinct edge, and it paid off handsomely. He was far faster than Pavlovich, and when Pavlovich delivered a sloppy left hand, Aspinall came over it with a blistering right, ending Pavlovich’s night.

Jones and Miocic will still fight when Jones is well, and Pavlovich will face the victor.

UFC 295 fight card, results

• Alex Pereira (c) def. Jiri Prochazka via second-round knockout (elbows)
• Tom Aspinall (ic) def. Sergei Pavlovich via first-round TKO (punches)
• Jessica Andrade def. Mackenzie Dern via second-round TKO (punch)
• Benoit Saint-Denis def. Matt Frevola via first-round knockout (head kick)
• Diego Lopes def. Pat Sabatini via first-round TKO (punches)
• Steve Erceg def. Alessandro Costa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Loopy Godinez def. Tabatha Ricci via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
• Mateusz Rebecki def. Roosevelt Roberts via first-round verbal submission (armbar)
• Nazim Sadykhov vs. Viacheslav Borschev ends in majority draw (29-28, 28-28, 28-28)
• Jared Gordon def. Mark Madsen via first-round TKO (punches)
• John Castaneda def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Joshua Van def. Kevin Borjas via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jamal Emmers def. Dennis Buzukja via first-round TKO (punches)