Tom Aspinall is held in extremely high regard by one of his fellow UFC stars.
Aspinall has had a difficult time of things since first having UFC gold wrapped around his waist. The uncertainty surrounding Jon Jones’ future and his reluctance to unify the titles meant the 32-year-old held the interim title for well over a year.
When Dana White announced Jones’ controversial retirement this past summer, the Briton was elevated to undisputed status. He’s now fast approaching his first defense, with Aspinall set to headline UFC 321 against Ciryl Gane on October 25.
Aspinall’s undisputed reign is just getting started and is yet to get past the first hurdle, but that has not stopped one of his fellow fighters from making a bold claim about where the champion ranks among the all-time greats.
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Ian Machado Garry says Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in UFC history
Speaking with Games Hub in a recent interview, welterweight contender Ian Machado Garry gave his take on Aspinall’s rise to the top in the UFC heavyweight division.
More than just praising the Englishman’s abilities, Garry went as far as to claim that Aspinall is the “best” heavyweight the UFC has ever seen over greats like Stipe Miocic and Cain Velasquez.
“I think Tom is phenomenal,” Garry said. “I think he’s absolutely the best heavyweight we’ve ever seen in the UFC, and now he’s got the belt, he is the champion.
“I said this to Tom when I saw him in Vegas recently. I said to him, ‘It sucks to win the belt that way, to be the champion this way that someone has ran, or retired, or ducked, whatever way you want to call it, or paint the picture. But no one’s gonna remember that in three fights time. They’re just gonna remember what you’ve done and that you are the champion of the world and you’re the best in the division. And that’s it.'”
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Daniel Cormier thinks Cain Velasquez could have gone down as the heavyweight GOAT
Among those likely to disagree with Garry’s view is Daniel Cormier.
‘DC’ had a front-row view as teammate Velasquez forged a path to prominence in MMA, and Cormier thinks Velasquez would have been the greatest heavyweight of all time if he was not cut down by injuries.
“The best,” Cormier said in an interview on Aljamain Sterling’s YouTube channel about his experience witnessing Velasquez’s rise.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I still today have not seen anything like it. The training, the skill set, the ability. He really could do it all.
“If he didn’t have all those injuries, he would be by far the greatest heavyweight of all time,” Cormier continued. “No one would’ve beaten him. … He was a monster, and he just worked and he worked and he worked. And he worked himself into injury after injury after injury.”