Cage Warriors 107: Aspinall Wins Again

Cage Warriors 107: Aspinall Wins Again

By Bryan Perkins

In the Main Event at Cage Warriors 107 in Liverpool, local favourite Tom Aspinall comfortably dispatched Michael Ben Hamouda.

Aspinall looked far more relaxed than Hamouda who came out swinging widely, which Aspinall was able to take advantage of with superior footwork and crisper boxing. Ultimately, the fight lasted less than a minute after the Team Kaobon fighter landed a clean right hand to drop his opponent which he followed up with some strikes from standing to the downed Hamouda.

Aspinall who is the training partner of UFC fighter Darren Till, has all the credentials to become a top fighter not just in Cage Warriors but on a much bigger stage.

He has excellent boxing, which isn’t a huge surprise considering he is a former sparring partner of Tyson Fury. This boxing pedigree means that Aspinall is lighter on his feet than the majority of heavyweights whilst still retaining knockout power.

However, Aspinall is more than just a one-dimensional stand-up fighter. In fact, he has a black belt in BJJ. When I asked Aspinall if he would consider taking an opponent to the ground he said this is something he is more than willing to do as he explained ‘in my early amateur fights I didn’t have any striking so I always took people to the ground and submitted them.’

This adaptability is something that will serve Aspinall well in his career when he comes up against sterner competition.

Most importantly Aspinall has a grounded mentality that will help on his climb to the top. Throughout fight week Aspinall has maintained that he isn’t in a rush to get a Cage Warriors title shot or even to reach the UFC. This is something he reiterated in his post-fight interview. When I asked which opponent he would like to fight next he said that he has ‘ five or 6 guys calling me out on Instagram and I’m happy to fight one of them rather than calling someone out who may pull out a week later.’

Aspinall is currently 7-2 at heavyweight and the main thing for him is to get more experience before moving up to the UFC but this is something that he is embracing, this kind of attitude will surely see him climb to the top.