Tom Aspinall has named his hardest-hitting opponent.
The interim UFC heavyweight champion has beaten top contenders Curtis Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich, and Alexander Volkov to arguably establish himself as the best big man in MMA.
Away from the Octagon, he’s fine-tuned his striking skills by sparring with former world champion boxer Tyson Fury, kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven, and a bunch of other elite-level fighters.
However, it’s someone you may not have heard of who hit him hardest.
Tom Aspinall recalls sparring ‘Big Sexy’ boxer
Tom Aspinall says Sean Turner packs one hell of a punch.
The boxer nicknamed ‘Big Sexy’ has an unremarkable 12-4 professional record, which includes eight knockout wins and a defeat to top contender Filip Hrgovic.
Turner caught the UFC superstar off guard when they traded blows a few years ago.
“I’ve sparred with a lot of good boxers,” Aspinall told talkSPORT in May 2023.
“I’ve sparred Rico Verhoeven a lot, who is the Glory Kickboxing champion, literally the best kickboxer ever, statistically.
“There was one guy in particular, who I sparred a long time ago, and his name is… I don’t even remember his name. They used to call him ‘Big Sexy’.
“Sean Turner! Sean Turner, he is called. I don’t even know if he’s boxing anymore but I did a few rounds with that guy and that guy punches very hard.
“Extremely hard he punches, he’s definitely one of the heaviest punches I’ve sparred, for sure. I don’t even know if he’s boxing anymore, this was quite a few years ago I sparred him.
“Maybe, it’s because I didn’t know him. When I was sparring Tyson Fury, Joe Joyce, and Rico Verhoeven, people like that – these were renowned knockout artists – I was kind of expecting that a little bit more.
“This guy, Sean Turner, I didn’t really know who he was, and he hit me really hard, and I was like, ‘Wow! This guy is packing some serious power.’”
What’s next for Tom Aspinall?
Aspinall is hoping to secure a unification fight with Jon Jones next.
The UFC heavyweight champion is fresh off a knockout win over Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event, which seemingly set up a clash with the interim titleholder.
Jones would prefer to face light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira instead of the Englishman.
However, UFC boss Dana White ruled out Jones vs Pereira after his penultimate pay-per-view show of the year last month.
Now Aspinall is feeling good about his chances of facing ‘Bones’ in the very near future.
“I’m very confident that it’s going to happen,” he told Bloody Elbow.
“Obviously, a lot of things I’ve got to keep under wraps. I’ve had conversations with the higher-ups in the UFC and they are also very confident it’s going to happen.
“I don’t know from Jon’s side, but I know from my side and the UFC’s side it’s very likely.”
- READ MORE: Tom Aspinall shares his thoughts on ’50/50′ UFC 310 fight between former opponent and top contender