Tom Aspinall experienced some pre-fight jitters after walking into the venue as an instantly iconic knockout took place inside the Octagon.
Though it has been some time since we last saw the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion compete due to Aspinall’s current waiting game, when he does step into the spotlight, he doesn’t tend to stick around for too long.
Along with a highlight reel of devastating knockouts, Aspinall submitted Alexander Volkov in London to show that he’s dangerous wherever the fight takes place.
However, while his composure makes him such a good finisher, the Brit has been very open in the past about the difficulty he faces when trying to keep his emotions in check before he makes the walk to the cage.
Aspinall has been able to overcome his fears in recent times, but his worries weren’t helped back in 2020 by a knockout that broke UFC records.
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Tom Aspinall’s pre-fight nerves weren’t helped after he watched Joaquin Buckley flatline Impa Kasanganay
On October 10 in Abu Dhabi, the UFC returned to Fight Island for a card headlined by Marlon Moraes taking on Cory Sandhagen.
Tom Aspinall earned his second win inside the Octagon on this particular night where he stopped France’s Alan Baudot in just 95 seconds.
Unfortunately for the rising heavyweight prospect, any chance of him getting a performance of the night bonus received a big hit following the fifth fight of the night.
October 10 is the day when Joaquin Buckley produced his iconic spin kick knockout against Impa Kasanganay, which would go on to earn its place in the record books as the most-watched Instagram video and most-viewed tweet in UFC history.
In a video on his YouTube channel where Aspinall reacted to some of the best kicks in UFC history, the interim champion revealed that whilst fans went crazy over the finish, it wasn’t the best thing for him to witness hours before the 11th fight of his pro career.
“Ah Joaquin Buckley, I was actually there for that. This was in Abu Dhabi. I had literally just walked in the building and the first thing I saw was that. Seriously scary stuff watching that the same night when you’re gonna fight. First thing that comes to your mind is please don’t happen to me.”
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Tom Aspinall’s video featured a knockout from the same card as Joaquin Buckley vs Impa Kasanganay
In Tom Aspinall’s reaction to some of the most brutal kicks in UFC history, there were seven different clips that the interim champion reacted to.
Incredibly, two of them were from the same card with Joaquin Buckley’s iconic kick opening the video as you’d expected given its legendary status.
Later on in the video came the finish of the main event on October 10 where Cory Sandhagen stopped Marlon Moraes with a spinning wheel kick to bounce back from his first defeat inside the Octagon.
After stopping Moraes in stunning fashion, ‘The Sandman’ would go on to produce another highlight reel knockout when he floored Frankie Edgar with a flying knee just four months later.