Watch Brit Tom Aspinall have heated final UFC 295 staredown with Pavlovich ahead of historic heavyweight title fight
TOM ASPINALL took part in an ice-cold final staredown with Sergei Pavlovich in the shadows of Madison Square Garden.
Aspinal, 30, will bid to claim the interim heavyweight title early on Sunday morning in the co-main event of UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden.
GettyTom Aspinall weighed in at a career=-heavy 261.6lbs on Friday[/caption]
GETTYThe Wigan warrior too part in a heated face-off with opponent Sergei Pavlovich[/caption]
Standing between the Wigan warrior and the title of Britain’s third UFC champion is Russian wrecking machine Pavlovich – who has knocked out his last six opponents in the first round.
The pair took part in a cordial face-off in The Big Apple on Thursday.
But there was more heat between them than during Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins.
Scores of Brits in the crowd cheered on dad of three Aspinall as he made his way to the scale for the ceremonial weigh-in hours after weighing a career-heavy 261.6lbs at the official weigh-ins.
Stoic Russian slugger, who came in at 258lbs earlier this morning, soon followed.
The fans in attendance at MSG’s Theater went wild as they went face-to-face for the final time before what promises to be a gunfight at ‘The World’s Most Famous Arena.’
A hyped-up Aspinall said: “This fight means the absolute world to me. I’ve got guys travelled from the UK.
“Look at the size of this guy. Lock us in tcage and it’s gonna be absolute f***king madness.”
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GettyTom Aspinall will bid to become the UK’s third UFC champion at MSG[/caption]
Aspinall has had less than TWO WEEKS to prepare for his first crack at UFC gold.
And he revealed this week that he was a day away from jetting off on a lads’ holiday before getting the call for the life-changing opportunity.
He told TNT Sports: “Do you know what? I got the call early in the morning, so I was sleeping.
“And it was off someone really high up in the UFC, not Dana White but someone really high up, who’s never called me before.
“And I could hear my phone vibrating on the side of me like this and I was like, ‘That’s weird someone ringing me at that time.’
“So I picked it up and as I picked it up I saw the person’s name and then it went off, you know like it stopped ringing.
“I thought, ‘Right, I’m just going to go back to sleep it’s 6am, I’ve got a few hours.’
GettyTom Aspinall is promising fireworks at MSG[/caption]
“And then obviously my mind starts going and as soon as my mind started going, I was like, ‘Someone’s pulling out of New York here.’
“I just knew it straight away.
“So I rung him back and he said, ‘Listen, I’m not going to tell you what’s happened because it’s not for sure yet. I’m going to let you know in the next 24 hours.’
“And I was supposed to be going on holiday the next day.
“So I said, ‘Listen, you’re going to have to let me know because I’m going on holiday. I’m going away tomorrow!’
“Anyway he rung me back at 4am the following night and he told me what’s going on.
“He said, ‘Jon Jones is injured, Stipe doesn’t want to fight anybody else bar Jon Jones so you and Big Pavers on MSG.’ and I said, ‘I’m in.’”
