Yahoo Sports MMA contributor Ben Fowlkes previews UFC 304 and how Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes might convince Jon Jones to stick around a little longer.
Video transcript
Ben, folks here at Yahoo Sports, we have UFC 304 happening in Manchester this weekend.
Lots to like about this fight card as a whole.
What I’m most looking forward to, I think here, is the heavyweight commentary event between interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blades.
Now obviously these two guys have a history.
They fought once before, but we learned nothing from it.
They stayed there for about 15 seconds.
Aspinall blew out his knee with the first kick, this time he took it.
The stakes are much higher.
It’s not just because of the interim title that Aspinall holds.
It’s because we’re all looking at John Jones as the true UFC heavyweight champion and thinking that once he gets that ST a Mio fight in the fall, he might not be around much longer.
So Aspinall looks like he could very well be the future of the division and it’s easy to get excited about this guy, big athletic guy, he can move.
He has knockout power and knows at least a few submissions.
So, all of this together at heavyweight.
Of course, we get excited about it, but that guy only had eight fights in the UFC.
You’re seeing a series of finishes especially in the first round where we just don’t get to see much of him.
Curtis Blades, he’s the type of guy with a wrestling game that’s very well adapted to MMA, a good ground and pound game.
If you’re not that person yet, if you’re not at that level, Curtis Blades is going to find that there might be a lot of fans walking out of that arena at six or seven in the morning on a Sunday with some broken hearts.
But if Aspinall is that guy, if he goes out there and starves Curtis Blades the way he did a lot of other people, honestly, I think these calls for Jon Jones to stick around at least long enough to face Aspinal for the unified title of heavyweights.
This is going to get louder and louder.
