5 biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall

#2. Arnold Allen – defeated Dan Hooker in UFC featherweight bout

Arnold Allen's win over Dan Hooker should move him into title contention at featherweight.

Paddy Pimblett and his teammate Molly McCann garnered the most crowd noise with their big wins last night.

However, it's probably safe to say that two fighters took the biggest steps towards UFC title contention last night, making them the biggest winners overall. The first of them was Arnold Allen, who took out Dan Hooker with a violent first-round TKO, picking up the biggest win of his MMA career in the process.

‘Almighty’ was widely expected to beat Hooker, who hadn’t fought at 145 lbs in a few years and appeared to be slowing down slightly. However, given that he’d only ever finished one foe in the octagon before, Allen wasn’t expected to do it in this fashion.

The fact that Allen caught Hooker out with a violent salvo of strikes, though, means he’s likely to garner far more hype than he did for his equally impressive shutouts against Sodiq Yussuf and Gilbert Melendez.

Allen was ranked at #7 in the featherweight division coming into last night. However, this win should be enough to leapfrog him over the likes of Josh Emmett, Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez – especially as he’s now riding a nine-fight win streak.

Essentially, ‘Almighty’ looks ready to make a run at Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight crown. That means a meeting with someone like Brian Ortega or Max Holloway could be in the offing, making him a huge winner from last night.

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#1. Tom Aspinall – defeated Alexander Volkov in UFC heavyweight bout

Tom Aspinall looked every inch a future champion in his win over Alexander Volkov.

Undoubtedly last night’s biggest winner was Tom Aspinall. The heavyweight prospect blew right through perennial gatekeeper Alexander Volkov in the event’s headline bout. Moreover, he also made it look so easy that it’s difficult not to see him as a genuine UFC title contender now.

Many expected Aspinall to struggle with Volkov, who looked set to enjoy a reach and height advantage over him. Moreover, the latter has had far more experience in the octagon than the Liverpool-based Aspinall.

However, that wasn’t the case at all. Aspinall outstruck ‘Drago’ standing, then took him down and beat the hell out of him en route a first-round submission win via a straight armlock.

Post-fight, Aspinall called out Tai Tuivasa, and that sounds like a good fight for him. ‘Bam Bam’ is currently ranked #3 in the division – meaning he’ll be higher than Aspinall even after the latter’s likely climb next week. Nevertheless, on paper, at least, Aspinall would be favored to win.

If he could win a fight like that, would the UFC throw him into a heavyweight title bout? Given the question marks over the future of current champion Francis Ngannou, it seems likely. That means that Aspinall would have a shot at emulating Michael Bisping by becoming only the second fighter from the UK to claim gold in the octagon.

Overall, this was a truly eye-opening performance from the Liverpool-based fighter, and there’s no question he was the event’s biggest winner.