Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes Prediction: It won't be quick this time around

Prediction for the MMA match which will take place on July 28. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

If you take Jon Jones out of the picture (and you probably don't even have to), Tom Aspinall is objectively the strongest heavyweight in the world right now.

Moreover, this guy is still progressing, he has never been even in the third round during his career, and his last four victories were won in the first round - Sergey Spivak, Marcin Tybura and Sergey Pavlovich fell under his fists, and Alexander Volkov was nobly finished by painful hold.

In his last fight (with Pavlovic), Aspinall became interim champion, and his only loss in the UFC is the same one to Curtis Blaydes, by injury.

Curtis Blaydes is a base fighter, a top-level fighter, but he doesn't win with submissions, preferring to beat his opponents in the grandstand round. He has been in the UFC since 2016, has been at the top of the rankings for a very long time, has fought all the top fighters, and has only lost to Francis Ngann, Derrick Lewis and Sergey Pavlovich.

In his last fight he finished Jailton Almeida as an underdog and explained to everyone that getting into the elite club is not that easy.

Aspinall is obviously the big favourite here, but somehow it's not a hundred percent certainty that he'll finish Blaydes quickly. Blaydes is very uncomfortable for him.

It's hard to predict what scenario the fight will follow, as both can bet on both stand-up and parter. But it looks like neither Aspinall nor Blaydes will be forcing things this time. Blaydes is favoured to drag the fight as far as possible, and Aspinall will be afraid of punches, because any of them can end everything, and the past failure will slow him down mentally.

Aspinall will certainly be better in every component and will surely win early, but we doubt it will happen right in the first round. The title is at stake (albeit temporary), it's very dangerous to take risks like in the fight with Pavlovic, and it will take time to get into the fight - it's the most important fight for the Briton. Let's not discount the responsibility to his home crowd, which will involve minimising the risks, at least at the beginning.