UFC Rankings update: Tom Aspinall climbs up the top-5 heavyweight ladder after round-1 KO of Marcin Tybura

Tom Aspinall lost one year of his fighting career to the unfortunate knee injury he suffered in the Curtis Blaydes fight last July. The Brit made up for the time lost with a quick TKO win over Marcin Tybura at UFC London this past weekend. As expected, he has climbed the rankings ladder and is now closer to the champion and top contenders than ever before.

Tom Aspinall [13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC] fought Poland’s own Marcin Tybura [24-8 MMA, 11- UFC] in the UFC London headliner. On paper, Aspinall had every advantage heading into the contest. However, the potential impact of knee injury on his capabilities was the biggest question. The 30-year-old performed to the best of his abilities and produced a first-round TKO win to make a solid comeback.

The win earned Tom Aspinall one spot as he now occupies the fourth place in the official UFC heavyweight rankings update. Aspinall’s gain was his previous opponent Curtis Blaydes’ loss as he dropped down to the fifth place. The loss cost Marcin Tybura one spot as well and he dropped down to No.11, giving away the tenth rank to Derrick Lewis.

Former UFC light heavyweight Paul Craig surprised the MMA community with a vicious TKO win over Andre Muniz in his middleweight debut on the UFC London card. He surged into the middleweight rankings, becoming the 14th-ranked middleweight.

In the lower weight classes, the tail end of the featherweight division saw Dan Ige gain two spots in the rankings to become the 13th-ranked fighter. Edson Barboza and Alex Caceres lost one spot each, becoming the 14th and 15th-ranked featherweights, respectively.

On the women’s side, Irene Aldana, Carol Rosa, and Norma Dumont gained one spot each to become the fifth, ninth, and 11th-ranked bantamweight contenders. Miesha Tate slid down one spot and now occupies the 12th place.

Tom Aspinall lays out the path to the UFC title shot

Tom Aspinall might be a win or two away from staking a claim at the UFC title shot. Jon Jones is the current heavyweight champion. Tom Aspinall has his eyes set on defeating ‘Bones’ who also happens to be the pound-for-pound king. Following his win over Marcin Tybura, Aspinall laid out his path to the title and said:

“I’ll tell you exactly what I am going to do. I am going to Paris, I’m going to be sitting in the front row for Ciryl Gane vs Sergei Spivak, I’m gonna beat the winner and then I’m going to beat Jon Jones.”

Cyril Gane and Sergey Spivak will headline the UFC Fight Night card on September 2. Both men are known for their striking prowess and might be vulnerable to Tom Aspinall’s grappling. Only time will tell how things unfold as all it takes one punch in the heavyweight division to change the complexion of a fight.