Video – UFC interim champ Tom Aspinall does the ‘dead leg challenge’ with Olympic gymnast Nile Wilson
Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall gave British gymnast Nile Wilson a small taste of his power.
“I’m going to kick Nile Wilson in the leg, about 30% I reckon,” Aspinall said in a clip shared on his YouTube channel.
The Salford, England native tested the Olympic medalist first, throwing a feint to see whether or not Wilson would flinch. “He took my advice,” Aspinall said as Wilson held his position and braced for the worst. It was then that Aspinall uncorked a kick that immediately took Wilson off his feet.
For those unfamiliar, Nile Wilson won an Olympic bronze medal in the men’s horizontal bar at the 2016 Summer Games. He also etched his name in the history books a year earlier at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships by being part of the first world men’s team to medal in British gymnastics history.
Tom Aspinall is moving on from a fight with the winner of Jones vs. Miocic?
Tom Aspinall’s vicious 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 seemingly set the stage for an epic showdown between himself and the promotion’s undisputed heavyweight titleholder, Jon Jones.
Sadly, it appears as though UFC fans may never see that fight come to fruition. Following Apsinall’s big win, ‘Bones’ and UFC head honcho Dana White made it clear that their top priority was to rebook a previously scheduled clash between Jones and former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic — a decision that could leave Aspinall waiting on the bench for a year or more.
Adding insult to injury, both Jones and Miocic have teased their potential retirement once they settle the great heavyweight GOAT debate. Again, where does that leave Tom Aspinall?
Instead of sitting around waiting for something that may never come, Aspinall seems intent on defending his interim belt this summer with the likeliest opponent being Curtis Blaydes who is coming off a massive second-round knockout win over Jailton Almeida. It also helps that ‘Razor’ is the only man to hold a win over Aspinall inside the Octagon, even if it was the result of a freak injury.
“Curtis Blaydes it is then,” Aspinall said in an interview with JN Media. “I’m easy, I’m the easiest person ever to entice into a fight. I’ve never turned one down yet. So anything that’s stopping me from fighting right now is not down to me, it’s down to the UFC. So I’m just waiting for the UFC to let me know who and when and I’ll be ready.”
Perhaps we’ll know more about Aspinall’s future once UFC 300 is in the books. For now, we’ll make the most out of his leg-kicking tumblers half his size.
