KSW heavyweight champion Phil De Fries wouldn’t be surprised if Aspinall chose to take his upcoming UFC 304 title rematch to the ground.
King of the KSW heavyweight division, England’s own Phil De Fries, has been a close friend and sparring partner to Tom Aspinall for a number of years.
Now, as the British UFC interim heavyweight champion prepares to defend his title on home soil, De Fries has offered a unique insight into the preparation of the fan-favorite superstar.
Tom Aspinall in preparation for UFC 304 title rematch vs Curtis Blaydes
The chief supporting act of UFC 304 is the highly anticipated heavyweight rematch between heavyweight stars Tom Aspinall and Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes, albeit this time with an interim championship title on the line.
Aside from adjusting his body clock to be revved and ready for the frustratingly late start time (expected to be around 4:15 AM local time), Aspinall has also been implementing a unique preparation technique: Dipping his hands in petrol (aka gasoline).
“When it gets to about 4 am, I get my alarm on, I go outside to do a bit of shadow boxing in the hay bales and I do the old Traveller method of dipping your knuckles in petrol for about 20 minutes as the suns coming up, and that hardens your knuckles.
“These are some of the hardest knuckles in the UFC right here, right now, they’re like rocks,” he explained on The MMA Hour earlier this week.
Petrol-dipped knuckles aside, Aspinall looks to be in fantastic shape as UFC 304 draws ever closer, with sparring partner and fellow heavyweight champion Phil De Fries offering an insight into how he believes that title rematch will go.
Phil De Fries sends ominous warning to Curtis Blaydes ahead of UFC 304
With a professional record of 25-6, it’s safe to say that heavyweight champion Phil De Fries has been in there with some of the most powerful and intimating competitors in all of combat sports; and out of them all, De Fries told TalkSport MMA that Aspinall’s the top dog.
“Without a doubt, the most talented person that I’ve been on the mat with is Tom, he’s leagues above [everyone else]. He could be hitting you really hard, but he is nice [with it], fast and accurate – so I’m quite glad that Tom is nice, you know.”
Yet that reputation of being a ‘nice guy’ will be dispelled, at least for a short while, on July 27 when the surging British juggernaut steps into the octagon to rematch veteran Blaydes.
Whilst the vast majority of fans are picking Aspinall to win by KO (10 of his 14 wins as a pro have come by KO/TKO), De Fries teased that he wouldn’t be surprised to see his sparring partner taking the fight to the ground.
“Tom’s the clear favorite, he’s a nightmare to get down, he’s not there to grab [and] he’s a right headache – I don’t think Curtis will be able to get him down.
“I think he’ll be stuck playing Tom’s game and I think he’ll probably get knocked out early just like everybody else has been getting in there and getting knocked out.”
Aspinall has four wins coming by way of submission, including two in the UFC being a rear-naked choke of Andrei Arlovski and a straight armlock of Alexander Volkov – a win that’s certainly getting better with age considering Drago’s recent resurgence.
“Even if he does get him down, Tom’s a very, very good grappler himself, he can get up and reverse- honestly, he might just take Curtis down- but he could easily survive for the next round.”
Whilst De Fries expects his friend and sparring partner to successfully defend his interim title in dramatic fashion, he did also note that Aspinall needs to be switched on from the get-go if he is to avoid another shock defeat.
“I think Tom will be pretty clear favorite there but it’s heavyweight MMA, so you’ve always got to be careful.”
De Fries himself returned to action last month to defend his KSW heavyweight title against former UFC fighter Augusto Sakai, and the 38-year-old hopes to get at least one, if not two, more fights in before the end of 2024.
UFC 304 goes down live on July 27, headlined by Leon Edwards defending his welterweight title against yet another of his former foes, Belal Muhammad.