Tom Aspinall vs. Alexander Volkov at Ultimate FIghting Championship UFC London FIght Night MMA news
Getty Images

Tom Aspinall got a taste of the good life and he is not keen on giving it up. Aspinall sent his countrymen into a celebratory frenzy by washing over Alexander Volkov in the main event of UFC London on Saturday, March 19.

"Tommy Aspinall, Aspinall! Tommy Aspinall!" fans chanted wildly in the streets of London following his win. 

It was an all-time memorable UFC Fight Night. The O2 Arena hosted a violent expression of symbiosis as the feverish fans and hometown fighters fed off one another. Eyes may immediately drift towards the unrelenting personalities of Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann, but it is calm and collected Aspinall who emerged as the U.K.'s next great hope for MMA supremacy.

"Feeling pretty good. It doesn't get much better than that, in my opinion," Aspinall told CBS Sports. "That, so far, is one of the highlights of my life, to be honest with you. Definitely the highlight of my career at least. Good times."

There are only two contenders in the UFC heavyweight top 10 on active winning streaks: Aspinall and Tai Tuivasa. The English fighter challenged his Australian counterpart to a fight that would likely determine the next opponent to Francis Ngnanou's crown. Touching on the potential matchup, Aspinall insisted the fight should take place in the U.K. as Aspinall continues to wave the flag for UFC in that part of the world.

"Nothing just yet, but I heard before that he was in talks with Stipe to get that match. Then I heard from a couple of inside sources that fight is nowhere near close. The ball is in his court, but I want to fight in the U.K. Me and Tai in the U.K. would be unbelievable," Aspinall told CBS Sports. "I want to be the U.K. guy. I want to fight in the U.K. I don't want to go on a card now and just be another guy on the card. Do you know what I mean? I want to be the U.K. darling. I want to be that guy."

Check out the full interview with Tom Aspinall below.

Despite his eagerness to represent the U.K. on the world stage, Aspinall's success came sooner than he would have liked. Aspinall turned down the UFC the first time the promotion came calling, choosing to instead hone his skills. His eventual UFC debut in July 2020 was a consequence of needs, not wants.

"My time came basically because I couldn't any other fights in any other organizations," Aspinall said. "I would have loved more fights. The same as how I would have loved more fights before I fought someone like Volkov or someone like [Andrei] Arlovski or [Serghei] Spivak or all them kind of guys. I would have loved more experience before I fight them guys. I'm kind of a product of my own success, I guess. I'm struggling to get that experience against anybody else. To be honest, I was sure that someone like Volkov would give me them kind of rounds but, obviously, that didn't work out that way."

One could make the argument that a Tuivasa vs. Aspinall fight could be contested for a UFC interim heavyweight title, considering undisputed champion Francis Ngannou's contract dispute with UFC brass and ongoing recovery from knee surgery that will have him out of commission for most of 2022. Aspinall modestly argued that there are more experienced UFC fighters deserving of interim title status.

"That's not really something that I think about. I'm not interested in that, really," Aspinall said. "I think there are other people that deserve it more like Stipe [Miocic] or Jon Jones. There are definitely other people who deserve it more than me. I've only just broken into the top 10. I'm not looking at doing any of that stuff. Look at Ciryl Gane, he was this close to beating Ngannou. People like that guy deserve it way more than me."