Photo via MMA Fighting
Tom Aspinall submits Andrei Arlovski in round two to retain one hundred percent finishing rate
A clash of ranked heavyweights headline UFC Fight Night 185 on Saturday, Feb. 20.
The second ranked heavyweight Curtis Blaydes searches for his fifth-straight victory against No. 4 Derrick Lewis on ESPN+. The co-main event features two-ranked women bantamweights in No. 6 Ketlen Vieira and No. 7 Yana Kunitskaya inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
To start of the main card – British prospect Tom Aspinall will square off against his hardest test to date, Andrei Arlovski.
The legend Andrei Arlovski (30-19) just keeps turning up after 51 fights and makes his 34th UFC walk. Arlovski put doubt in the eyes of the fans, when he lost four back to back – but yet again he resurrected himself again to earn unanimous decisions over Philipe Lins and the surging Tanner Boser. Meanwhile, Tom Aspinall (9-2) has started with a bang. He continued his 100% finish rate on his debut against Jake Collier although that was a complete mismatch and then followed it up with another brilliant knockout over Alan Baudot back in October on Fight Island.
Here is how the pivotal heavyweight clash played out:
ROUND 1:
Mark Smith the man in charge. Both men enter the center. A lunging combination from Arlovski just misses, Aspinall lands a right counter. Aspinall using his footwork and backing up Arlovski. Leg kicks land from the Brit. A one-two down the pie lands clean and Arlovski is hurt against the cage and Aspinall unloads with a flurry of punches, the ref asked Arlovski to move, and he does. They enter the middle again, Aspinall lands a jab. Arlovski seems to be recovered. Arlovski lunges for a punch and lands – Aspinall spins him and pushes Arlovski up against the cage. Arlovski steps in with twenty seconds to go and lands a huge right, Aspinall looks to counter – nothing lands. End of round one.
MyMMANews.com scores it: 10-9 to Tom Aspinall
ROUND 2:
Round two. Arlovski lands a huge right body shot. Tom changes the levels and lands a super quick double leg and Arlovski tries to turn and get up – Aspinall grabs the neck and the choke is sunk in deeply. Arlovski is forced to tap. Tom Aspinall defeats Andrei Arlovski via rare naked choke.
MyMMANews.com scores it:
Official Result: Tom Aspinall defeated Andrei Arlovski via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:09
