UFC Vegas 36: Tom Aspinall vs Sergey Spivak Preview

A Look at the Fighters

Tom Aspinall was scheduled to return against Sergei Pavlovich, however, an injury late on in camp caused him to pull out. Aspinall has a huge challenge in front of him now with not only a completely new opponent but one on such short notice. We will definitely see a prospect rise this Saturday.

Aspinall is fast, middleweight fast. He jumps in and out of the pocket as if it’s second nature and pops off power punches within the jumps. He has incredible fight IQ and can make reads on his opponents within seconds. The ground game of Aspinall is not one to sleep on either, he has slick transitions on the ground and an incredible squeeze.

Sergey Spivak, although a little slower, has big power in his hands and sets a high pace from the beginning of round one. He will push his opponents to the cage and overwhelms them until they give up the position. His biggest weakness is his speed but his power makes up for that and as is the case with any heavyweight, he can end the fight with one shot.

Tom Aspinall vs Sergey Spivak Breakdown

This fight is the classic speed vs power but something that isn’t often seen in these matchups is the perfection in technique. Aspinall will look to match the pace of Spivak and use lateral movement to jump in and out of the pocket with little risk of being taken down. The classic 1-2 combination is one of the Englishman’s best and could very well be the finishing sequence in this bout.

Spivak will look to take it to the ground and put on the pressure of a “Polar Bear”. The submission specialist can not risk giving Aspinall any space in the grappling realm as a full advantage will be taken, which would lead to a possible defeat for Spivak. Every time the “Polar Bear” gets hit, he has to hit back, he can’t match the pace on the feet but might be able to exceed the power.

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